NM police investigate fistfight between mayor, newspaper publisher

NM mayor, publisher get into fight

GALLUP, N.M. — Police are investigating a fistfight between a New Mexico mayor and the publisher of the city’s newspaper.

Police say Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza and Bob Zollinger of the Gallup Independent each claims the other started the fight. Both reported it to police.

Sgt. Erin Pablo says the district attorney’s office will decide where anyone will be charged. Prosecutors did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The incident happened Wednesday outside a Gallup bank. The bank’s surveillance video shows the two men hitting and chasing each other. It was about five minutes before witnesses broke up the fight.

Police say the fight centered around stories published by the newspaper linking Mendoza to the gang rape of a teenage girl in 1948 when Mendoza was 16 years old.