Lapel video shows police responding to deadly dog attack in Tucumcari

WARNING: The video above may be disturbing to some viewers.

TUCUMCARI, N.M. – It’s been nearly two weeks since a Tucumcari man died in a gruesome dog attack. Now, lapel camera video is showing the aftermath as investigators searched for the dogs and their owners. 

It was a shocking sight for the first responders who found 64-year-old Stanley Hartt in the road at Gamble and 11th in Tucumcari.

“Do you really think it was dogs that did this?”

“That’s what they said. They saw dogs on him when they pulled up.”

Lapel video from the Feb. 1 attack shows the moments first responders knew Hartt would not survive his injuries.

Court documents say a bloody bank card police found at the scene helped police identify the victim. From there, the Quay County Sheriff’s Department, Tucumcari, and New Mexico State Police set out to identify what killed him.

“They said that the dogs took off that way.”

Their fear was someone else would get attacked.

Court documents say one Quay County deputy found a dog that appeared to have blood on its snout, and was given permission to shoot it on the spot. The deputy did, killing the animal, then joined the continued search for the others.

“Dogs are cutting over to 5th Street.”

That search led police to the home of Mary Montoya and her son Kristopher Morris.

Montoya initially told officers she only had a puppy, but what they found inside was a dog in a cage with blood on its face – matching the description of a dog they had been chasing in the area.

“That’s the dog we were chasing.”

Montoya: “Are you serious?”

“I’m positive of that.”

Montoya: “Because I just let her out to go to the bathroom, 20 minutes.”

“We’ve just located one of the dogs.”

Montoya: “What do you mean? She’s only a puppy.”

Montoya told police her children had left her back gate open that day.

“She was running around with a couple other dogs, and she really hurt somebody.”

Montoya: “How bad?”

“Uhhh, pretty bad.”

A Quay County Deputy took the dog from a cage in Montoya’s house. Then determined Montoya and Morris were the owners of all five dogs involved in the attack, including the one a deputy shot, which had attacked someone in the past.

“All of them are theirs. They’re all their dogs.”

“Every single one?”

“Every single one.”

Only one of the five dogs involved in the attack has been put down – that was the one shot. 

State police say the other four are in custody with Animal Control Tuesday night.  

Montoya and Morris both face felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, but they are not behind bars as of Tuesday night. 

Morris – who investigators say owns the dogs his mother cared for – was released Friday on a $10,000 bond, and agreed to no longer care for any dogs or large pets.

The Tucumcari community continues to mourn the loss of Stanley Hartt. They’re planning a memorial service for him on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. at Immanuel Baptist Church. They’ve left candles, flowers and signs on the side of the road where he was killed.