New Mexico State Police officers charged an Española woman after she allegedly crashed into Ken’z Cuisine while drunk and was found to have a 0.25 blood-alcohol level.
State Police Officer Damian Romo arrested Santana Garcia, 31, on charges of aggravated drunk driving, criminal damage to property, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to give immediate notice of accidents, on Oct. 16.
Romo wrote in a statement of probable cause for Garcia’s arrest that he was sent to State Road 30 near the intersection of Fog Road at 12:25 a.m., on Oct. 16, where he saw a blue Honda with heavy front-end, driver’s side and passenger-side damage with an airbag deployed. He was sent at the request of Santa Clara tribal police to conduct a drunk driving investigation. In the driver’s seat was Garcia, who denied needing medical attention and failed a field sobriety test before she agreed to a breath test.
After she failed the field sobriety test by losing her balance and falling into the road, Romo arrested her. While at the scene, other emergency personnel told him that Ken’z Cuisine, north of the crash, had “significant” damage to the exterior wall, patio wall and a street sign outside.
Romo did not write how far away Ken’z Cuisine was from where Garcia was stopped, the circumstances that led to Santa Clara tribal police stopping her or if she was seen driving. Nothing in the statement of probable cause indicates what tribal police’s involvement was, other than that they called State Police to handle the investigation.
When he gave her a breath test, Garcia, twice, blew a 0.25. The legal per se limit is 0.08. She blew over three times the per se limit.
While Romo filed the charges a day later, it wasn’t until Oct. 20 that Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo ordered her released. A status conference is set for Nov. 19.