ALBUQUERQUE — It took less than two hours for Albuquerque to record its first fatal drunken driving crash of the year.

Micah Henry, 23, a military police officer at Kirtland Air Force Base, was driving a sport utility vehicle that police said ran a red light early New Year's Day and plowed into a pickup truck, killing two people in the truck.

Henry had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit, police said.

He was being held Wednesday morning in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center on two counts of homicide by vehicle. Bond was set at $50,000.

"It's the typical story where the drunk walks away without a scratch," Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said. "This is so tragic."

Police could not immediately identify the victims because they were not carrying any identification, Walsh said.

The pickup was registered to Cora Garcia of Santa Fe, who confirmed that one of the victims was her son, Marvin J. Garcia. Police believe the other victim was his girlfriend, but they have yet to release her name.

Witnesses reported seeing Henry's SUV speeding before the crash.

Police said the force of the collision "welded" the two vehicles together and they had to be pulled apart with a fire truck.

"It is heartbreaking to know that just a couple of hours into the new year another family has been impacted," said Terry Huertaz, executive director of MADD New Mexico.

Linda Atkinson, director of the DWI Resource Center, said the families of the victims will never forget what happened early on New Year's Day.

"Everything will remind them — another crash, holidays, that time of the morning. It's everything. It just goes on and on," she said.

Despite the unwillingness of some drivers to stop drinking and driving, anti-DWI advocates vowed to continue their fight.

"The plan for this year is just to continue, or double, or triple, or quadruple our efforts, whatever it takes to stop drunk driving," Huertaz said.

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A previous version of this story that ran in the Jan.2 edition of The New Mexican appears below

A Santa Fe man possibly was one of two people who died when a suspected drunken driver plowed into their vehicle in Albuquerque early New Year's Day after running a red light, police there said.

The man's mother, a Santa Fe resident, is expected to view the man's remains today to possibly identify them, Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said Tuesday night.

The accident occurred about 1:39 a.m. Tuesday at the corner of Fourth Street and Menaul Boulevard in Albuquerque's North Valley, where Micah Henry, 23, who works at Kirtland Air Force Base, ran a red light at a high rate of speed and crashed his Ford sport-utility vehicle into the side of a Nissan pickup in which the man and a woman were traveling. Both people in the Nissan died instantly.

"He came out without a scratch," Walsh said of Henry.

Henry's blood-alcohol content was above .16, twice the legal limit, and he faces two counts of vehicular homicide, Walsh said.

Neither victim had identification, Walsh said, although it appears the vehicle was registered to the man and his mother. Santa Fe police contacted the mother, who said her son has a girlfriend who lives on a pueblo and he likely had been with her, Walsh said. Both victims appeared to be in their 30s or 40s, Walsh said.

Police have two sets of witnesses, including one who was following Henry on Fourth Street before he abruptly U-turned and sped back toward the intersection, Walsh said.

-The New Mexican




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