Albuquerque –
The case stems from a November 12th, 2025 incident. On that day a motor vehicle crash happened at the intersection of San Mateo and Haines NE involving a sedan and one of ABQ RAW’s vehicles.
The crash happened after 43-year-old Manuel Torres who had committed a burglary of an iPad and other things from a victim. The victim observed Torres stealing items from her SUV while she sat in a friend’s car at the PIMA Medical Institute business. The victim then began tracking her stolen iPad to a Starbucks at the intersection of San Mateo and Haines. The victim observed the suspect and decided to approach him on her own without police assistance.
Online video shows the burglary victim get out of the crashed out sedan, which hit our reporter, and she is seen running toward Torres to retrieve the items. She is then seen in the video assaulting Torres and then she threw a bag back at him. The victim then returned to the crash scene. New Mexico State Police had apparently been searching for the burglary suspect and they arrested Torres a short time later.
CORRECTION:
ABQ RAW received a correction submission by Barry Massey, Chief Communications Officer Administrative Office of the Courts:
The defendant, Manuel Juanito Torres, has not been released. He remains in MDC because of a temporary detention order issued by Metro Court due to pending charges ina separate case (D-202-CR-2025-3798). Attached are the Nov. 13 order in T-4-FR-2025-009477, and an MDC custody list showing that Torres remains in jail.
· The Metro Court temporary detention order remains in effect and the defendant is scheduled for a hearing in the Second District Court on Friday, Nov. 21, at 8:30 a.m.
· Importantly the temporary detention order was entered before any conditions of release were set. These conditions of release apply only to the pending Metro Court case, as the attached order plainly says at the bottom. The Metro Court judge signing the conditions of release had the temporary detention order in the case file, and would have known the defendant would not be released as a result of the interim conditions of release imposed in T-4-FR-2025-009477.
Currently, no pretrial detention motion has been filed in T-4-FR-2025-009477 and the judge was required by law to set conditions of release in that case only. Also note in the Metro Court case, the judge imposed conditions that provided for the highest level of pretrial supervision, PML4. The conditions of release in the Metro Court case have no effect on the detention order holding Torres in MDC.
The temporary detention motion currently holding Torres was imposed under pretrial rules that require courts to review the release conditions of defendants arrested for a new crime while awaiting trial. Click here for a 2024 news release about those rules.
Under court rules, a judge must set conditions of release for a defendant during their first court appearance in a case. That first appearance must be held shortly after a person is charged. If no detention motion is filed in a case by the prosecutor, a court has no choice but to set conditions of release. No pretrial detention motion has been filed in T-4-FR-2025-009477. As a result, the judge imposed conditions of release.
It should be noted that ABQRAW had looked at MDC bookings prior to publishing the story and Torres was not on the MDC jail roster leading us to incorrectly believe he was released. We welcome corrections to our stories and strive to be the best out here at what we do.
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