{"id":28261,"date":"2024-04-11T16:55:46","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T16:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/seizure-blamed-in-head-on-collision-that-killed-two-women-in-farmington\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:24:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:24:38","slug":"seizure-blamed-in-head-on-collision-that-killed-two-women-in-farmington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/seizure-blamed-in-head-on-collision-that-killed-two-women-in-farmington\/","title":{"rendered":"Seizure blamed in head-on collision that killed two women in Farmington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"This
This GMC Sierra reportedly was driven by Ambert Teasyatwho when it crossed the median on Pinon Hills Boulevard and struck a passenger car head-on. The tires of the overturned passenger car are in the background.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Farmington man whose oil field truck slammed head-on into a car and killed two women reportedly suffered a seizure while driving, court records state.<\/p>\n

Ambert Teasyatwho, 44, faces two counts of second-degree felony homicide by vehicle while DUI in the deaths of Cheyenne Yazzie, 24, and Kimberly Lowe, 30, both of Kirtland. They were killed in a Feb. 2 head-on crash on Pinon Hills Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Teasyatwho reportedly appeared intoxicated after the crash, but police stated they \u201cdid not smell the odor of an intoxicating beverage coming from\u201d him despite his inability to complete a walk-and-turn and a one-leg stand, court records state.<\/p>\n

At the time of the crash, Teasyatwho allegedly told police he was not under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication and the \u201che was safe to be driving.\u201d However, he later admitted to taking a prescription medication for seizures twice each day and stated that he \u201csmokes marijuana on weekends,\u201d according to the statement of probable cause.<\/p>\n

\"Ambert
Ambert Teasyatwho, 44, of Farmington is suspected of DUI in the Feb. 2 double fatality crash on Pinon Hills Boulevard in Farmington.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The seizure medication that Teasyatwho reportedly takes, causes \u201cdizziness, drowsiness, tiredness and weakness with a warning to avoid driving,\u201d according to drugs.com.<\/p>\n

Teasyatwho\u2019s defense attorney, Shellie A. Patscheck, disclosed to the court in a motion to transport that her client \u201cwas diagnosed with a seizure disorder in March 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patscheck further wrote that \u201cthere is evidence\u201d Teasyatwho \u201chad a seizure on the date of his arrest.\u201d She alleged the medical complications surrounding his seizure disorder \u201chaven\u2019t been addressed at the San Juan County Adult Detention Center.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan County Spokesman Devin Neeley said \u201call detainees are assessed at intake for medical and mental conditions and needs. Detainees are reassessed within 14 days,\u201d at the San Juan County Detention Center, which has medical staff on contract \u201cat the facility around the clock, seven days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neeley said if there are medical issues, \u201cdetainees have access to medical staff multiple times a day and can submit medical requests for any new issues. Contract medical staff provide treatment within their licensure and scope, should a detainee require a higher or more specialized level of care, accommodations are made to ensure the care required is received.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Teasyatwho is regularly begin transported to San Juan Health Partners, 407 South Schwartz Avenue, for medical care and treatment of the seizure disorder from Dr. Michael Ting, and \u201ccounsel for the state, Ian Jump does not oppose this motion,\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n

Despite Teasyatwho\u2019s illness, questions remain as to why he was driving the date of the crash.<\/p>\n

New Mexico statutes and regulations do not deny individuals with epilepsy a driver\u2019s license, but the New Mexico Drivers manual recommends \u201ca person with epilepsy have frequent checkups, practice careful management of medicines and be stable and seizure-free for up to six months\u201d before filling out a driver\u2019s license application, according to information obtained from the Epilepsy Foundation.<\/p>\n

\"A
A red passenger car struck head-on by an oil field truck at 2:45 p.m. Feb. 2 on Pinon Hills Boulevard. Both women in the car died.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Teasyatwho reportedly told police he worked for Hilcorp Energy Co., and \u201che was driving from Aztec to La Plata Highway to check his wells,\u201d court records state.<\/p>\n

A representative from Hilcorp Energy Co., who declined to provide his name stated that Teasyatwho was not an employee of the company.<\/p>\n

Teasyatwho was driving eastbound on Pinon Hills Boulevard at 2:45 p.m. Feb. 2 when he crossed the median and struck a \u201cred passenger car\u201d in the westbound lane, Farmington Police Department said in an incident report.<\/p>\n

Teasyatwho has a criminal record with several traffic violations including four prosecuted DUIs, one dismissed DUI charge and one pending DUI charge. He has eight traffic citations including careless driving. According to court records, he has a conviction for aggravated battery, two convictions for disorderly conduct, a conviction for assaulting a peace officer, and a conviction for possessing an illegal-substance conviction.<\/p>\n

Teasyatwho waived his arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty on March 27. He will have a pretrial conference at 8 a.m. June 10 in the 11th Judicial District Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suspect allowed weekly release from Detention Center for medical treatment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80358,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28261\/revisions\/80358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28261"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}