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Wanted man pulls over after sheriff calls during pursuit

The pursuit of a wanted man by New Mexico deputies ended after he called his mother and then got a call from the sheriff — another one of his relatives — who urged him to surrender.

The pursuit of a wanted man by New Mexico deputies ended after he called his mother and then got a call from the sheriff — another one of his relatives — who urged him to surrender.

Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington said he called 29-year-old Jeremy Graves as Graves was being chased Friday night in the Roswell area.

The sheriff said he made the call after Graves’ frantic mother called him at home about the ongoing pursuit.

Herrington said Graves and his mother are his distant cousins and he’s not close to either.

“Ï knew him but I knew him mostly from this job,” the career law enforcement officer said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press. “We don’t go to barbecues …”

The pursuit began with an attempted traffic stop by a deputy who knew Graves was wanted on arrest warrants alleging battery against a household member and failure to appear, according to the Roswell Daily Record, which first reported the incident.

Herrington said Graves’ mother told him she was concerned that her son might want the encounter with deputies to end with his death. “She was frantic,” the sheriff said.

Herrington said he contacted the pursuing deputies after first calling Graves.

Herrington said Graves, who has a criminal record, denied doing anything wrong and didn’t want to go back to prison.

Graves claimed while speaking with Herrington that he had been looking for cigarettes while driving when he discovered a gun under the seat, the sheriff said.

Herrington said he told Graves to throw the gun out the window, stop the car and “just lay flat on the ground.”

Herrington said Graves threw the gun out of his car and stopped. But he didn’t get out of the car until deputies tried to break a window to take him into custody, the Record reported.

Graves was arrested on suspicion of aggravated fleeing. being a felon in possession of a firearm, tampering with evidence and DWI.

Graves remained jailed Wednesday and he hadn’t yet been appointed a defence attorney who could comment on the allegations.