The man arrested in August after he ran over and killed a Tohono O’odham Nation police officer has been ordered back to court next month for arraignment on 12 felonies put forth in a grand jury indictment.
Carlos Maximilliano Galvan is set to be arraigned Nov. 16 at the U.S. District Court in Tucson on 12 counts, including premeditated murder, felony murder, carjacking resulting in a death, assault on a federal officer, and robbery stemming from the Aug. 27 death of Officer Bryan R. Brown and the assault of three other federal officers.
Court documents show Brown had responded to a casino near Why on the Tohono O’odham Reservation for a report of an erratic driver who may have had a firearm. Brown got out of his patrol vehicle and encountered Galvan, who approached the officer with a broken bottle.
As Brown backed away, Galvan jumped into the patrol vehicle, then turned the vehicle around and drove it toward Brown. The officer fired several shots before being struck. Brown died of his injuries at a Phoenix trauma hospital; he was eight months short of completing 20 years of service.
Several U.S. Border Patrol agents were involved in taking Galvan into custody. Some had been targeted by Galvan when he was in Brown’s squad. Public records show he was hospitalized after the incident for an unspecified neck injury but was able to participate in a Sept. 1 initial court appearance via video.
The criminal complaint filed with the court by FBI Special Agent David Neill revealed Galvan, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, admitted using methamphetamine prior to the encounter and had not slept for a few days. Public records also reveal he served a short state prison term for aggravated DUI in 2015.
Galvan has been assigned an attorney from the Federal Public Defenders Office. He was ordered by a federal magistrate to remain in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial next year.
Brown was the second Tohono O’odham Nation officer killed on-duty by a vehicle. In April 1998, Officer Michael Delgado was killed shortly after the start of his shift when the vehicle he was riding in was broadsided at 80 mph by a drunk driver. He was 29.