LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A Las Cruces man was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence-related charges after his girlfriend asked her children to give their school bus driver a note saying she was in danger, police said Tuesday.
The bus driver called 911 after being handed the note Friday morning and police then found the woman with multiple cuts, bruises and scrapes “consistent with her claims of physical abuse,” a police statement said.
Police later found Erik Alvarado, 40, and he was arrested on suspicion of three counts of aggravated battery against a household member – two for suffocation and one for strangulation – and other charges, the statement said.
The woman secretly wrote the note after Alvarado abused her overnight and took away her cellphone, preventing her from calling for help, the statement said. “Much of the abuse was done in the presence of the couple’s toddler and their two school-age children.”
Alvarado remained in jail without bond Tuesday and online court records didn’t list an attorney for him who might comment on his behalf.