Piñon seller in ruckus at Walmart

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — A 17-year-old Gallup boy was arrested Christmas Eve for disorderly conduct while selling piñons near the frontage road outside Walmart.

Joe Duckett, 17, allegedly threatened two women who had unwittingly stopped in front of Duckett’s piñon stand during slow-moving traffic. When the women called metro dispatch, the call was logged “subject with weapon.”

Once police arrived, they found no weapon. But Duckett grew combative, prompting them to place him in handcuffs for officer safety, at which point Duckett accused the officers of being racist; he said that everyone was Native American except for him, according to Gallup Police Officer Ericson Yazzie’s report. Officer William Velasquez was also on scene and told Duckett that they were not being racist, and that indeed he was not Native American.

During their interview with police, both women said they had stopped because of traffic and couldn’t move their car from in front of Duckett’s piñon stand. At that point they said Duckett grew angry and said he was going to hit them with a baseball bat, and that he would use his knife.

They said Duckett never brandished the weapons, but the threat frightened them.

After repeatedly asking Duckett to “calm down,” police arrested him for disorderly conduct.

Yazzie reports that Duckett remained irate and uncooperative. He refused to give police a family member’s phone number in order for them to retrieve his car and thereby save Duckett the cost of a tow and storage.

Eventually a wrecker towed Duckett’s car and he was booked at Gallup McKinley Juvenile Detention Center.