AMBER ALERT LEADS TO CAR CHASE, CRASH
2-year-old girl allegedly taken by father in Albuquerque is hospitalized
Ramiro Tirado pointed a gun at his girlfriend Monday night and told her to do what he said or she would never see their 2-year-old daughter again, police say.
His girlfriend fled, and Tirado apparently set out to fulfill his promise.
He took off toward Colorado with the toddler, Denise Tirado, and police sent out a nationwide Amber Alert.
“I think we all got that wake-up call on our cellphones,” Albuquerque police spokesman Tanner Tixier said. “There’s nothing more heart-wrenching than waking up in the middle of the night and seeing that a young child had been abducted. I know I didn’t go back to sleep.” That alert worked. Tirado was spotted in northern New Mexico, and police gave chase. When they tried to stop him, Tirado, 19, crashed in Colorado. Both he and the girl were ejected.
She was airlifted to a hospital in Aurora and he was taken to a hospital in Pueblo. Both sustained “moderate injuries,” according to a Colorado State Patrol spokesman Nate Reid, who said that typically means the injuries aren’t life-threatening.
“Please keep that little baby in your thoughts and
prayers,” Tixier said.
Police said the incident began as a fight between the girl’s parents — Bianca Martinez and Tirado — and then escalated.
Martinez told officers she planned to go to a yoga class at Central New Mexico Community College on Monday evening, and Tirado asked her to drive herself in his Cadillac Escalade. She later told officers she thought it an odd request, but she did it anyway, according to a criminal complaint filed against Tirado in Metropolitan Court.
When she got out of class and started driving home, she heard a bump in the back seat.
“Ramiro sprung up with a black handgun pointed at her,” the officer wrote in the complaint. “Ramiro told her to do as he says or she won’t see their daughter ... again.”
Police said they didn’t know if Denise was in the car at the time.
After Tirado had Martinez drive around the city, she managed to flee from the SUV and phoned her mother, who called police.
Police couldn’t immediately find Martinez, but when they did she said Tirado had fled with their daughter. Tixier said it’s unclear if Tirado had the legal right to take the girl.
“Regardless, the manner in which he took the child is unacceptable,” he said.
Child exploitation detectives requested an Amber Alert around 3 a.m., blasting out pho- tos of Tirado and Denise, as well as a description of the SUV.
And Martinez began posting frantic social media updates.
“Please be on the lookout for my little Denise! Her dad took off with her and he is nowhere to be found,” she wrote around 5 a.m. “Please help me find my princess.”
Soon after, she wrote: “My Denise doesn’t deserve this. Please share this! Thank you, from a mom who is desperately trying to get her baby back.”
Sometime before 7 a.m., police say the Amber Alert worked. A driver spotted Tirado’s car near Raton and called authorities.
Colorado State Patrol waited for the car at the state line and tried to pull him over. Instead of stopping, he sped up to speeds of 100 mph on I-25, Reid said.
Troopers eventually deflated his tires with stop strips, and he crashed into the median before landing on a frontage road south of Walsenburg, Colo.
Reid said that troopers decided to puncture Tirado’s tires because it was safer than letting him continue driving that fast with the girl in the car.
“This person was driving with such reckless behavior, he had an opportunity to pull over and he didn’t,” Reid said. “We only have so many tools in our toolbox. This wasn’t the troopers who hurt this little girl.”
Police initially charged Tirado with aggravated assault on a household member and kidnapping, and now plan to file new charges against him in connection with the chase and crash, Tixier said.
After Martinez learned about the crash she posted something more somber.
“I would like everyone to keep my little Denise in their prayers,” she wrote. “She was found, but is in the hospital and not doing too well.”
Both Tixier and Reid said they didn’t have an update on Denise’s condition late Tuesday, and the hospital refused to release any information about her.
Martinez posted another update around 11:30 a.m.
“I was told that my little Denise woke up and cried a little. That’s the best news I’ve heard today,” she wrote. “I’m on my way to Denver. Be strong my baby. I’m on my way to see your precious little face.”