DWI fatalities: A cost without measure

State makes strides in cutting vehicle accidents involving alcohol

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

1/7/2009 - 1/3/09

The cost of drinking and driving, at its worst, is measured by who is left behind.

When Chris and Connie Reynolds' motorcycle went off a steep embankment into a deep ravine near Peñasco last August, killing the couple, they left behind two sons, ages 9 and 11. Connie left behind her mother, Marcella Medina, who grieved for her only child. Chris left behind his parents, siblings and other relatives.

Medina said she doesn't know if Chris, who was driving, was drinking or not, but she said her daughter never drank alcohol as far as she knew. The Taos County Sheriff's Department and the Office of the Medical Examiner said alcohol was involved, but final toxicology reports are still not finished.

Chris was 42 and Connie was 38. The couple had been at a bike rally in Pueblo, Colo., over the weekend, enjoying Chris Reynold's new motorcycle. They stopped in Peñasco on their way to their Los Luceros home.

In Los Luceros, Connie's mother was taking care of her grandsons and waiting for the couple's return. She was nervous when they didn't show up. She called police. "The night was so long," Medina said.

Morning broke and still no word. Medina took her grandsons, her sister and a niece to look for them. Medina knew State Road 75 well. It was near her house. They kept stopping the car, getting out and looking.

Finally, they stopped at a spot near milepost 5, where the embankment drops off 200 feet or more into a steep ravine. "My sister got down, looked and started crying, and said, "They're here. 'Oh, no,' le dije," Medina recalled, crying and slipping back into Spanish at the memory. "The boys saw their parents, and they started crying. 'There's my daddy. There's my mom.' Other people stopped to help and tried to get the boys back to the car."

In 2006, almost one in four motorcycle crashes in New Mexico involved alcohol.

The Reynoldses were among 56 people who died between July 1 and Oct. 31 in vehicle accidents involving alcohol, according to a state Department of Transportation review of law enforcement reports. In some cases, drivers were drunk. In some cases, people were hit by drunken drivers or were passengers in a car or on a motorcycle driven by someone who had been drinking.

The most recent DWI-related fatality involved attorney William Carlos Fierro of Santa Fe, who allegedly struck and killed William Tenorio on Guadalupe Street. Fierro admitted to having at least one drink before the accident. He is charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.

Still, New Mexico has made positive strides in reducing DWI-related fatalities in the last few years. The state went from sixth in the nation for DWI-related deaths in 2002 to 14th in the nation in 2006, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

A Drunk Busters Hotline has continued to generate a lot of calls and arrests. In 2008, a total of 22,662 calls — an almost nine-fold increase in two years — resulted in 138 DWI arrests.

The state Department of Transportation and New Mexico State Police worked together to set up DWI checkpoints through the year during holidays and over the summer.

Yet alcohol remains the single largest factor in vehicle fatalities, contributing to 40 percent of the accidents, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

In New Mexico, anyone driving with a breath- or blood-alcohol content measuring 0.08 and above is considered a drunken driver.

Medina's grandsons spent Christmas with her. They live with an uncle in Texas.

Medina tried to make it a good holiday. The boys didn't mention their parents. Medina didn't talk about it either. "But I don't know in their hearts how they feel," she said.

Medina is still not sure what happened that Aug. 4, when Connie and Chris died. But, she said, "When I see motorcycles going on that road to Peñasco, I start to cry."

NEW MEXICO TRAFFIC FATALITIES INVOLVING ALCOHOL

July to October 2008, by date and time of crash, county where crash occurred, victim's name and age, and location of crash:

July 6. 10 p.m.: Taos, Thomas Mondragon, 16, Tros Road
July 10, 7 p.m.: Santa Fe, Manuel Romero, 21, S.R. 76 MP 5
July 11, 7 p.m.: Valencia, Jesus Chavira, 30, S.R. 304
July 11, 11:58 p.m. Socorro Lawrence Archibeque, 23, Chapparral Drive
July 11, 11:58 p.m.: Socorro, Gary Romero, 27, Chapparral Drive
July 11, 11:58 p.m.: Socorro, Victor Savedra, 39, Chapparral Drive
July 12, 2:45 a.m.: Eddy, Katherine Krikes, 27, Old Cavern Road
July 12, 10:30 p.m.: Otero, James Miles, 40, U.S. 70 MP 253
July 14, 5:25 p.m.: Taos, Jose Alvarez, 33, S.R. 240/Coyote Lane
July 20, 12:40 a.m.: Cibola, Jimmy Perez, 24, S.R. 605/Berry Hill
July 20, 3:30 p.m.: Luna Frank Quarrell, 20, Hermans Road (Deming)
July 26, 7 a.m.: Quay, Trevor Mitchell, 23, U.S. 66 MP 368
July 26, 7 a.m.: Quay, Trent Barber, 26, U.S. 66 MP 368
July 26, 7 a.m.: Quay, Travis Roberts, 24, U.S. 66 MP 368
July 26, 8:06 a.m.: Eddy, Jimmy Ortega, 47, Texas State (Carlsbad)
Aug. 1, 7:30 p.m.: Rio Arriba, Michael Romero, 18, U.S. 84/285 MP 135
Aug. 1, 7:30 p.m.: Rio Arriba. Leonard Maestas, 42. U.S. 84/285 MP 135
Aug. 2. 10:23 p.m.: San Juan, Ermen Peshladai, 25, Maple Street (Farmington)
Aug. 2, 1:30 a.m.: McKinley, Leo Tom Jones, 40, U.S. 491 MP 10
Aug. 3, 3:23 a.m.: Sandoval, Robert Montaño, 28 Cherry/Apricot
Aug. 4, 9:45 a.m.: Taos, Chris Reynolds, 42, S.R. 75 MP 5
Aug. 4, 9:45 a.m.: Taos, Connie Reynolds, 38, S.R. 75 MP 5
Aug. 4, 1:25 a.m.: Rio Arriba, Julian Atencio, 33, S.R. 291 MP 3
Aug. 8, 10:23 p.m.: McKinley, Robert Dixon, 60, S.R. 22
Aug. 11, 9:19 p.m.: Bernalillo, Juan Sanchez, 61, Central/Louisiana
Aug. 14, 2:48 p.m.: Chaves, Tim Cantwell, 47, U.S. 70 MP 368
Aug. 15, 2:35 a.m.: Valencia, Jacob Silva, 30, I 25/Embudo Rd. (Belen)
Aug. 1, 2 p.m.: Doña Ana, Vincent Costalez, 27, Three Saints Road
Aug. 30, 1:32 a.m.: Bernalillo, Lorenzo Granido, 6th Street
Aug. 23, 11:20 a.m.: Bernalillo, Benito Servin, 32, I-25 MP 229
Aug. 23, 6 p.m.: Bernalillo, Jacob Gabaldon, 52, Coors/Montaño (ABQ)
Sept. 1, 1:38 a.m.: Valencia, Cameron Chavez, 29, I-25 MP 197
Sept. 3, 10:18 p.m.: Valencia, Vladmir Deduskeno, 61, S.R. 14 MP 6
Sept. 3, 10:18 p.m.: Valencia, James Zefferi, 60, S.R. 14 MP 6
Sept. 4, 12:03 a.m.: Cibola, Rene Chavez, 28, I-40 MP 81
Sept. 4, 7:47 p.m.: Socorro, Rena Manning, 52, California (Socorro)
Sept. 6, 7 p.m.: Chaves, Karen Lewis, 24, 19th (Roswell)
Sept. 11, 12:42 p.m.: San Miguel, Fred Paul Stark, 56, Arriba RD/Railroad
Sept. 12, 1:20 a.m.: San Juan ,Selina Tsosie, 39, Navajo Route 34
Sept. 13, 3:26 a.m.: San Juan, Hank Yazzie, 49, S.R. 134 MP 7
Sept. 14, 11:33 p.m.: Doña Ana, Chad Murray, 46, I-10 MP 141
Sept. 19, 3 p.m.: McKinley, Christopher Shorty, 25, Whitewater (Canyon Road)
Oct. 4, 7:46 p.m.: McKinley, Ernie Joe, 34, U.S. 491 MP 7
Oct. 6, 3:25 p.m.: Otero, Cherie Binon, 77, S.R. 244 MP 21
Oct. 8, 11:06 p.m.: San Juan, Deswood Yellowman, 53, U.S. 491 MP 38
Oct. 10, 7:15 p.m.: Luna, Jonathan Maynes, I-10 MP 64
Oct. 12, 5:13 p.m.: San Juan, Dennisai Billy, 44, U.S. 64 MP 64
Oct. 14, 9:50 p.m.: Eddy, Jerry Campbell, 35, Carlsbad Derrick Road
Oct. 17, 5:23 p.m.: San Juan, Jasmine Joe, 17, Bluff Road (Shiprock)
Oct. 19, 7:42 a.m.: Roosevelt, Miguel Ornelas, 25, Maple & Avenue A
Oct. 20, 4:44 a.m.: Bernalillo, Uriel Bejarano, 17, 6931 Isleta Blvd. SW
Oct. 25, 10:08 p.m.: Bernalillo, Ramon Marquez, 73, I-25 S. Paseo del Norte
Oct. 25, 10:34 p.m.: Bernalillo, Michelle Wilhem, 29, I-25 S. of Alameda
Oct. 25, 10 a.m.: Otero, Jose Mireles, 62, Chaparral Diamondback Road
Oct. 26, 4:50 a.m.: McKinley, Julie Begay, 19, I-40 MP 28
Oct. 29, 2:19 p.m.: San Miguel, Jacob Romero, 22, I-25 MP 343 SB Exit

Information provided by the New Mexico Department of Transportation and law enforcement officials.