A New Mexico man was arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend and threatening to kill her — after Amazon’s Alexa called police, authorities said.
Eduardo
Barros, 28, became angered with his unidentified girlfriend while house-sitting
in Tijeras, about 15 miles east of Albuquerque, and the dispute suddenly turned
physical on July 2, authorities said.
During
the assault, Barros waved a gun and threatened to kill the woman before he
allegedly asked: “Did you call the sheriffs?”
The
question was inadvertently picked up by the smart speaker and the voice-powered
virtual assistant recognized the phrase as a command — prompting it to call
911, Bernallillo County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Felicia Romero confirmed to
The Post on Monday.
It’s
unclear whether the speaker was connected to an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot device,
but the Alexa virtual assistant was connected to a landline in the home, Romero
said.
The
violent ordeal unfolded after Barros allegedly got upset over a text message
the woman received and accused her of cheating on him, KRQE reported.
“Barros
told her she was not going anywhere and he was going to kill her,” according to
an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by The Post. “When 911 called her phone,
Barros saw the caller ID and threw [her] to the floor. Barros then kicked her
while on the ground at least 10 times in the face and stomach. Barros told [the
victim] he could not believe the cops had been called and he was not going back
to prison and that she knew he was a felon. [The victim] stated she thought she
was going to be killed or shot.”
Responding
deputies managed to remove the woman and her unidentified daughter from the
home. She received minor injuries during the incident, but was not
hospitalized. Her daughter was not harmed, Romero told ABC News.
Barros,
a convicted felon, was later taken into custody after a crisis negotiation team
and a SWAT team were called to the residence. He was ordered held without bail
on charges that include possession of a firearm, aggravated battery and false
imprisonment.
“The unexpected
use of this new technology to contact emergency services has possibly helped
save a life,” Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III told ABC News.
“This amazing technology definitely helped save a mother and her child from a
very violent situation.”
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