Posted on 10/05/2006 7:25:27 PM PDT by CedarDave
Emergency Medical Technicians were across the street from the Bernalillo bank parking where Paige McKenzie was attacked.
An ambulance took her quickly to the University of New Mexico Hospital.
And McKenzie counts among her friends a New Mexico sheriff and a GOP gubernatorial candidate.
But there are no clues as to who may have attacked McKenzie or why. She remained at the University of New Mexico Hospital today.
McKenzie, a spokeswoman for Republican John Dendahl, was assaulted Wednesday night as she drove home.
She apparently stopped to fix a flat tire around 7:20 p.m. when she was attacked, said Bernalillo Police Chief Fred Radosevich.
She suffered a broken jaw and several broken teeth, and could have been attacked with a tire iron, Dendahl said.
Police have no motive and no suspect. They haven't been able to talk to McKenzie, who is hooked up to a breathing tube.
Police today sought a search warrant to look through McKenzie's vehicle for clues.
"We just want to go through her car to see if we can find anything that helps us," he said.
Early Thursday, Dendahl said McKenzie had said she recognized her attacker. Later, he said it's not clear if that's the case.
"I don't know whether she knew the attacker or not," he said.
McKenzie, in her 30s, has worked on several New Mexico campaigns, including for U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and former Albuquerque City Councilor Mike McEntee. She's also a former executive director of the Bernalillo County Republican Party who has written for NewsMax, a conservative news magazine.
Dendahl spoke highly of the woman running his campaign against Gov. Bill Richardson.
"Philosophically on her own, she's quite conservative," he said. "She's very smart, a good researcher and a decent writer."
"She's just a lovely young women in every respect," he said. Of McKenzie's attacker, he added: "I'd like to be the one putting a noose around his neck and opening the trap door."
Dendahl said he doesn't believe the attack was motivated by politics.
"I would be shocked to hear otherwise," he said.
Richardson said in a statement he was shocked "by this brutal, senseless attack."
Friends said McKenzie's family members were expected to travel to Albuquerque Thursday.
The men who helped McKenzie after the attack were about 100 yards away, separated by N.M. 550 and getting gas when dispatchers alerted them to a 911 call of a woman who had been beaten and was lying in a bank parking lot.
They realized the bank was across the street, said Kyle Thorton, deputy fire chief and EMS chief with Bernalillo County fire and rescue.
"They were there getting gas and they didn't hear anything," Thorton said. "I think they felt a little badly about that."
Thorton said he didn't know whether McKenzie called 911 herself.
"You'd think they would have heard something, but it may have already occurred," he said. "Who knows how much time had passed."
Dendahl, who aims to unseat Richardson Nov. 7, said he isn't sure the direction his campaign will take now.
"Today, all my energy has gone into agonizing over her," he said. "She's been a key part of the campaign and I can't imagine she's going to be back before the election."
This incident of senseless violence makes me sick. Paige and her family are in my prayers.
TV interviews with her rescuers say that the beating was unbelievably severe. This is not the first time that beatings of a random victim has occurred in the ABQ area. Several years ago skin-heads attacked and beat a man who just happened to be in the vicinity. He survived but with brain damage. However, that attack occurred much later at night and downtown. This was in a well lit bank parking lot on a busy highway in early evening. It does not appear she was sexually assaulted so I suppose the attack could have been part of a gang initiation.
Maybe some democrat didnt' like what she said?
Criminal gangs are a scourge on society. It should be a $50 fine for killing one of them if they are caught doing something wrong to others. Recently my wife and I were out riding and happened upon a Pagan biker gang member in front of us. We were seriously considering running him over or shooting him lol. The world would have been a better place without him.
Given my own experiences, I think it is time to keep all eyes open, extra precautions.
Dems exposed themselves last election with all kinds of heinous conduct. Yeah, I read in the article someone said "not politically" related. Was she burgled? Article doesn't say.
Random violence, my freakin' foot.
$50 fine? Why not a $50 bounty?
Let's all hope that the real Paige suffers no long-term effects and that perps are caught.
Just being realistic, and assuming the least from the government.
Perhaps they could cook up some byzantine tax-deduction scheme that requires nine pages of IRS forms to allow you to get the money back somehow.
I don't doubt that in Bernalillo she was attacked because she was white. It's a bad place now with loads of angry and violent illegals.
Isn't this on tape if it happened in a bank parking lot, or do they just tape the inside stuff?
And this is not to far from King Bill's new RR station. If it's that bad there, wonder how many will be assaulted in the station parking lot come winter when the daylight ends at 5 p.m. Don't suppose they've got around to putting up lights or paving the lot yet, have they?
Also, wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago that the Sandoval County sheriff was observing a drug deal in an unmarked car when two Bernalillo police officers disturbed him in flagrante delicto?
Probably just tape the drive-up tellers and the ATM machines, not the whole parking lot. King Bill has offered the services of the NM State Police in hunting for the perps. How nice of him.
9:40am UPDATE: Paige McKenzie remains in critical condition in the intensive care unit at University of New Mexico Hospital at this hour, according to UNMH spokesman Sam Giammo.
GOP gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl tells ABQjournal.com that he first learned of the brutal attack on his spokeswoman in Bernalillo Wednesday from an Associated Press reporter around 11 last night, but didn't began to get details of the story until he heard from Mario Sanchez, a mutual friend who works on Allen McCulloch's senatorial campaign, around 2 this morning.
Dendahl said told Sanchez last night just before she went under sedation that she knew the person who attacked her but was unable to say anything more.
McKenzie suffered a broken jaw, had eight teeth knocked out and other teeth jarred loose and apparently has some problem with her throat as a result of the attack, Dendahl said.
McKenzie was executive director for the Bernalillo County Republican Party until Fernando C de Baca took over as county GOP chairman from Ken Zangara last year.
7:30am UPDATE: Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl told KKOB Radio a short time ago that his spokeswoman Paige McKenzie was hit across the face with a tire iron, and that her assailant may have slashed her tires to get her to stop in the parking lot of First Commercial Bank in Bernalillo some time Wednesday night.
http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1571&Itemid=2
Correction: The Journal web blog says its the First Commercial Bank
Ping for a tragic news story regarding one of your writers.
I am not one for the Winfrey show, but people have been on there, who have recovered physically. Of course the mental scars remain.
This may be somewhat old hat, but I will give it a try. Bill Cosby's son stopped to fix a tire. A useless thug murdered him. He had called his girl friend to drive out to help him. Herewith advice.
There is a cylinder with foam within and pressurized. They cost about eight to eleven dollars. I don't know whether this lady had such a device though. Well worth the money. I always have one in my passenger seat drawer. Just screw it in the tire valve and push the button. You can be on your way in three minutes.
strange
prayers for her
"There is a cylinder with foam within and pressurized. They cost about eight to eleven dollars. I don't know whether this lady had such a device though. Well worth the money. I always have one in my passenger seat drawer. Just screw it in the tire valve and push the button. You can be on your way in three minutes."
Yes, it's as excellent product and a necessity for women traveling alone after dark.
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