Posted on 10/31/2007 8:35:47 PM PDT by CedarDave
A 911 tape details the dramatic cell phone conversation that took place late Saturday between a Santa Fe County dispatcher and a 15-year-old girl who called to report her father driving drunk at speeds that reached 100 mph.
The girl can be heard screaming, crying and pleading with her father multiple times to pull the car over.
"Dad! Slow down!" the girl screamed. "You're going 90! Pull over, now!"
The girl, along with her 13-year-old sister and a 15-year-old friend, were passengers in the 2000 white Pontiac Sunfire driven by Robert J. Montoya of Santa Fe on N.M. 41. The group was returning from The Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty.
Montoya, 53, was arrested close to midnight that evening by Santa Fe County sheriff's deputies at his bother's home in Galisteo. He has been convicted of DWI five times before, according to the Sheriff's Department.
Two roadside sobriety tests indicated Montoya's blood alcohol level to be as high at 0.19 percent— more than twice the presumed level of intoxication in New Mexico. He told deputies he drank a six-pack of beer while visiting the popular Moriarty pumpkin farm, according to a deputy's report.
In her 911 calls, his daughter gave the dispatcher the location of the vehicle as it sped north on the highway, citing each mile marker post they drove by.
Just before they approached mile marker 40, the dispatcher told the girl to again tell her father to pull over.
"I'm trying to!" the girl said. "He's going 100 now!"
"Are you guys belted in?" the dispatcher asked.
"Yes," the girl replied.
Shortly after that exchange, the call was dropped.
When the dispatcher finally was able to reconnect with Montoya's daughter, she and the other teens were still crying and pleading with Montoya to slow down.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Is “The Pumpkin Patch” an actual pumpkin patch, or a bar?
It’s a farm. The one I’m familiar with is south of Moriarity and Estancia on highway 41.
It’s just his culture, we shouldn’t be intolerant.
The guy who killed himself and five others driving the wrong way on I-25 last year was an Anglo and the five he killed were all Hispanics. The “culture” is the “wink-wink” of the local courts that let DUI cases get dismissed and the poor record keeping of the police and DMV that means past records aren’t always available.
What did he do wrong. He was just driving like the Governor.
I didn't have the courage to listen to the 911 tape but you are very right about your statement above. That's been the culture since I came to the State in the late sixties but back then a drunken driver could drive for a hour and never see another vehicle. It's definately not that way any more.
My brother-in-law's brother has 5 DUIs pending in different counties. It could take a year or so for all those to culminate in jail time. Meanwhile, he's driving drunk every week.
What a freakin’ idiot.
I listened to that audio file.
Those poor frightened kids.... :-(
LOL
Unfortunately, true.
Members of the NM legislature probably have the highest DWI count of any state.
I would like to see the stats of convicted DWI serving in all states.
This happened in a state with drive-thru liquor windows? I’m shocked!
You might need to tune him up for that.
Those were banned about five years ago. However, 90% of convenience stores sell liquor. It's up to the clerk to determine whether someone already drunk is buying more booze. On Friday nights, the lines at the checkout counters are long with folks buying cases of beer and paying for their gasoline at the same time.
The clerk that sold the liquor to the wrong-way drunk driver who killed five was identified, fired and I believe criminally charged. The store lost its license. Of course, with alcoholics its sometime hard to identify the addiction, even among friends. So how a clerk is supposed to know with just a few seconds observing him at the counter is beyond me.
Don’t worry, sweetie. He’ll be back on the road again in no time.
Doesn’t that happen everywhere? Buying gas and beer at the same time doesn’t mean they are necessarily going to be driving around while drinking. Most just go home and park the car for the night.
Heck, I have payed for beer and gas at the same time before. It never occurred to me to pop open a beer before I got home though. How are people supposed to get their beer home if they can't drive with it?
Boy, there's a recipe for success. Force a $9 per hour clerk with minimal training to spot drunks by looking at them across the counter on a busy night. Punish them and their employer severely when they fail. That's smart and fair, especially to the victims of the drunks. (Do I really need the sarcasm tag?)
Not being judgmental here — just making an observation. I’ve bought beer and gas at the same time — its just that a small percentage of them are alcoholics who shouldn’t be driving. And I would strenuously object to stopping such sales for the majority because of the abuse of the few.
Gallup Man Gets 8th DWI Arrest
36-year-old man blew nearly three times the legal limit when booked early Sunday.
Leroy J. Yazzie, 36, had a blood alcohol level of nearly three times the state's 0.08 percent legal limit when he was booked into the McKinley County Adult Detention Center early Sunday after his eighth drunken-driving arrest, The Gallup Independent reported.
Yazzie was driving his silver Buick east on N.M. 118 when McKinley County sheriff's Deputy Tom Mumford noticed the car swerving across the center line around 2 a.m. Sunday, the Independent said.
When Yazzie was stopped, his breath smelled of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and several beer cans were littered throughout the vehicle -- including some that were open and near at hand, Mumford reported.
Yazzie failed the field sobriety tests and was taken into custody, the Independent said.
That what they do to bartenders. I don't think that's fair either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.