Tri-Cities

Farmington chief speaks out as traffic death toll hits 5

Traffic enforcement becomes priority for Farmington officers
This GMC Sierra reportedly was driven by Ambert Teasyatwho when it crossed the median Pinon Hills Boulevard and struck a passenger car head on. The tires of the passenger car are in the background. (Tri-City Record file photo)

There have been five traffic-related deaths in Farmington since the beginning of the year, and Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said drivers need to do better.

Hebbe took to social media, asking drivers to slow down, after three people died last week in crashes that possibly could have been avoided if drivers were traveling at the posted speed limit. He also reached out to other agencies for help.

“I get everybody is not going to go the exact speed limit,” Hebbe said. “Speed is playing a significant role in the damage of these accidents.”

There was a crash at 4:04 a.m. July 18 near the intersection of Southside River Road and Browning Parkway. A single vehicle rolled and the driver “was thrown” from the vehicle, according to police spokeswoman Shanice Gonzales.

Nadine Vigil, 20, died at the scene.

At 11:30 p.m. July 26, two men died a single-car crash near the intersection of Municipal Drive and Boyd Drive.

Jonathan Reed, 19, was driving when he was speeding and lost control of the vehicle and it rolled. Robert Adams, 39, was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene, Gonzales said.

Reed was taken to San Juan Regional Medical Center, where he died a few hours later, she said.

“Both of them (the crashed) were speed-related,” said Farmington Police Capt. Sierra Tafoya. Alcohol contributed to the crash on Southside and Browning, she said.

Tafoya added the investigation into the crash on Municipal was ongoing, and police will not know if alcohol was involved until after an autopsy was conducted.

“We’ve got to back off on the accelerator, back off on the reckless driving,” Hebbe said. “If that doesn’t wake us up as a community, nothing else will. Let’s take a moment and breath and think three people died in Farmington in traffic crashes. That can’t be what we want. We want a safer community. Let’s work together to achieve it.”

Hebbe said there is a real “problem here in San Juan County, in Farmington with how we’re driving” and he and the police force are doing the best they can to address it.

“If you don’t feel you can safely run to the store without getting hit, that affects the quality of life,” Hebbe said. “I’m sure citizens are aware of it and worried about it. So are we. You shouldn’t be afraid to drive to the store.”

Tafoya said the problem with speeding is citywide.

“It’s something for the entire city to pay attention to,” she said. “It just shouldn’t take a couple of kids getting killed to wake people up that this is a problem. Let’s get things under control.”

Impaired driving has been another longtime traffic issue in Farmington and San Juan County, but Hebbe said the number of drunken driving arrests from January to June 2024 is lower than usual 270.

“We’ve had numbers in the 700s,” he said, adding the department has “stepped up enforcement and the focus of our officers on it.”

While the numbers might look lower, Hebbe said “it’s still a prevalent problem for us in San Juan County and the state.”

Impaired driving originally was to blame in a crash on Pinon Hills Boulevard that killed two Kirtland women.

Ambert Teasyatwho, 44, of Farmington was driving an “oil-field type” work truck when he crashed head on into a passenger vehicle at 2:45 p.m. Feb. 2.

The crash killed Cheyenne Yazzie, 24 of Kirtland, and Kimberly Lowe, 30, of Kirtland. Both women were in the passenger car.

Teasyatwho was charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence of drugs (a fifth offense), failure to maintain a traffic lane and drive on right side of roadway. A three-day jury trial was set to begin Nov. 5 in the 11th Judicial District Court.

In this case and others, calls coming in from the public can help, as law enforcement can monitor those driving recklessly.

Tafoya added it would help to have people call in if they see speeding, drunken drivers or reckless driving. “We need the community to buy in that we can take our streets back.”

Hebbe also has sought the help from the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico State Police, hoping both agencies will help with traffic enforcement in the community.

“Speed is still a factor whether you’re sober or drunk,” Hebbe said. “Sometimes speeding is an indication of alcohol involvement as well. For your regular driver, it is speed and red lights, that is what we have to get back under control.”

And there are additional officers on the street, who will be coming out of the academy to help.

“We are working on the training side of things for new officers to establish the culture of how important traffic enforcement is to policing to get the community to drive safer,” Tafoya said, adding there are dedicated traffic officers and a supervisor.

“As you’re coming out of the academy, we are backing traffic enforcement as absolutely something we want you doing – to work on traffic stops to get that culture back to where we are active again,” Hebbe said.

The department has just over 100 “deployed officers,” and that number goes up to 120 with officers in training, Hebbe said.

The department also is focusing on traffic enforcement training by doing traffic enforcement in the area of Sullivan Avenue. The last one resulted in 130 citations and one arrest.

“It isn’t pleasant for my officers to stop someone and write a ticket, but we’ve got to be doing it,” Hebbe said.