By Roger Lanse
On Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, at about 6:35 p.m., a Grant County Sheriff's deputy attempted to make a traffic stop on a Pontiac sedan which was clocked at 66 mph in the 55 mph zone of Highway 180 near Casa Loma Road. However, according to a GCSO report, the vehicle failed to stop even though the deputy had emergency lights and sirens on. The deputy also radio'd the vehicle did not display a license plate.
A pursuit ensued as the vehicle turned onto the 32nd Street Bypass, the report said, with speeds up to 65 mph and continued on 32nd Street to Swan Street where the vehicle turned right and headed up the hill. At each stop sign on 32nd Street, the driver slowed but did not come to a full stop.
Speeds on Swan Street were about 35 mph and when the driver approached Kiva Place the deputy noticed the driver begin to lose control of the vehicle, the report stated. The vehicle then collided with a Honda Pilot just before the intersection of Swan Street with Cain Drive. The Pontiac fled the scene of the accident and turned left onto Cain Drive.
The deputy stopped at the site of the crash and sent for EMS and waited for a tow truck. EMS arrived but the two male passengers in the Pilot refused medical attention. There was moderate damage to the entire left side of the Pilot and it was towed at the request of the owner. Other deputies arrived at the crash site to assist in the investigation.
After clearing the scene, according to the report, deputies followed 'yaw' marks on the roadway of Cain Drive, later determined to have been caused by damage to the left rear tire causing it to be being bent inwards. Following the 'yaw' marks, the deputies were led to the vehicle at 4681 Ironwood Lane. The vehicle had sustained heavy damage to its left rear side.
Deputies made contact with a Gabriel Garcia, who stated he was not the driver but his daughter, Jalah Garcia, was. The elder Garcia contacted his daughter, the report said, who declined to speak to law enforcement that night but would turn herself in tomorrow. After deputies searched the vehicle, turning up a syringe in plain view, and a backpack, the vehicle was towed.
At about 10:57 p.m., the deputies made contact with Jalah Garcia, 20, of the address, by phone, who stated she was the driver of the vehicle the deputy had tried to initiate a traffic stop on. She gave several excuses for why she ran from the deputy, the report stated, including she had headphones on, had an anxiety attack due to a previous pursuit she was involved in with the Albuquerque Police Department, and the emergency lights gave her PTSD. She told deputies on the phone call she would come in and speak to a deputy that night.
She didn't show. Neither did she show up the next day as she said she would.
Charges of felony aggravated fleeing are pending.