Court record: Officer's gun discharged during struggle

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A Portales police officer was punched in the head and face numerous times before the scuffle with a criminal suspect resulted in the officer being shot in the leg with his holstered gun, court records show.

Officer Nicholas Laurenz was shot Monday afternoon following a traffic stop in which two occupants in the vehicle tried to run away.

Laurenz was hospitalized in Lubbock with what officials termed an injury that was not life threatening. Lt. Chris Williams said Tuesday that Laurenz remains in the Lubbock hospital but is doing well and expected to be released within one to two days.

Anthony Ortega, 28, of Portales is charged with aggravated battery, disarming a peace officer and resisting, evading an officer, records show. He is being held without bond in the Roosevelt County jail.

An arrest affidavit filed Tuesday shows Portales police officers Amador Lujan, Anthony Sanford and Laurenz conducted a traffic stop at 1:41 p.m. Monday at West 16th Street and Avenue E.

Two individuals in the vehicle, Ortega and Jason Ford, 24, who had active warrants for their arrest, exited the vehicle and ran.

Officers Lujan and Sanford chased Ford, apprehending him on West 16th Street, while Laurenz chased Ortega into the back yard of a residence in the 600 block of West 16th Street.

“Based on Officer Laurenz’ body cam footage, Anthony is clearly in an offensive posture and brass knuckles can be seen on Anthony Ortega’s hand,” the affidavit read.

The record shows Ortega punched Laurenz in the face and head numerous times and after more than a minute of fighting, a gunshot was heard and Laurenz was struck in the leg with a bullet.

When asked by fellow officers what happened, Laurenz said Ortega had tried to “go for his gun,” the record shows.

Officers discovered Laurenz’ handgun was secured in his holster, was in its full forward position and the weapon had the casing from the expended round still inside it, according to the affidavit.

“The position of the weapon indicates to me that the weapon was not able to cycle completely after the round was fired, meaning that there was a physical obstruction to the cycling of the weapon as in hands over the slide while the weapon was fired,” Detective Chris Mitchell wrote in the report. “This would be consistent with Officer Laurenz’ statement that the suspect had his hands on the firearm when the weapon was fired.”

Ford was also arrested on outstanding warrants.