Police officer saves woman from car fire

Alleged drunken driver was knocked unconscious in accident

| The New Mexican

3/13/2008 - 3/14/08

A Santa Fe police officer likely saved an alleged drunken driver's life Thursday after discovering her car on fire after a south-side accident, Deputy Police Chief Aric Wheeler said.

Officer Craig Ernst arrived at the intersection of Zia Road and Candelero Street about 1:45 a.m. — six minutes after a dispatch call came in — and found a car on fire and filled with smoke, Wheeler said. Because of the smoke, Ernst was unable to see if anyone was inside the car, he said.

So the officer picked up a chunk of the cinderblock wall the car had crashed into and broke out the back window on the driver's side, Wheeler said. He stood back to make sure the fire didn't flare up at him, then poked his head inside and saw a woman unconscious and slumped over the steering wheel, he said.

Ernst reached in and opened the driver's door, then dragged the woman away from the car with the help of other officers on scene, said Wheeler, who congratulated his officer for a "heroic job."

"It was quick thinking on his part," Wheeler said. "She might have died."

The woman — 19-year-old Liliana Canales-Anaya of Santa Fe — had been knocked unconscious after the accident, smelled of alcohol and admitted to drinking, he said. "She was DUI," he said.

Canales-Anaya was taken first to St. Vincent Regional Medical Center for a blood test, then to Santa Fe County jail, where she was charged with driving while intoxicated and careless driving, Wheeler said.

Ernst, a former Santa Fe County deputy and detective who started with city police within the last year, was not available for comment Thursday.