Tara Faye Yazzie
March 24, 1:00 am
Aggravated DWI (First offense)
Gallup Patrolman Jeremy Shirley said he was dispatched to the area of the Ellis Tanner Trading Company in connection with a car that had stopped in the middle of the road.
When he got there, however, he couldn’t find the vehicle and a little later, received word that the same vehicle had crashed into a ditch on U.S. Highway 491 near Clayton Homes. When he got there, he saw Yazzie, 34, of Tohatchi, standing by her car.
When asked what happened, she said she was just trying to get home. “I wasn’t safe,” she said.
She admitted that she had four shots of vodka at a friend’s house before driving home. She agreed to take the standard field sobriety test, but reportedly failed when she had trouble keeping her balance.
At that point, she was arrested for DWI. She agreed to take a breath alcohol test and blew samples of .19 and .17.
Sophina Morgan
March 22, 12:52 am
Aggravated DWI (first offense)
Gallup Patrolman Christopher Dawes said he was parked at the Sun Loan on U.S. Highway 491 when he saw a car driving north suddenly get into the southbound lane while still going north.
He immediately made a traffic stop to get the vehicle off the road and began interviewing the driver, Sophina Morgan, 35, of Yah-Ta-Hay. He said he could smell the odor of liquor coming from inside her vehicle when he talked with her.
When asked where she was coming from, she said Sports Page. She also said she only drank two beers when she was there. Dawes also reported seeing liquor bottles in her car.
She agreed to take the standard field sobriety test and when Dawes asked her if she had problems in taking the test, she said that she couldn’t balance on her ears. Dawes told her she would not be required to balance on her ears for the test.
She did several tests and showed clues in each test that she was too intoxicated to drive, so she was arrested for DWI. Later she agreed to do a breath alcohol test and blew samples of .21 and .22.
Titus Norton
March 18, 8:25 am
Aggravated DWI (Second offense)
McKinley County Deputy Nacona Clark said she was on County Road 1 when she noticed a car fail to stop at a stop sign.
She got behind the vehicle to do a traffic stop, but the driver refused to stop and Clark said she pursued the vehicle until it parked in a driveway on Fort Defiance Draw Road. She said she saw the driver exit his vehicle, but instead of stopping when she asked, he began running behind the building with Clark in pursuit.
Clark said she had to use her taser to get him to stop, but once she tased him, he became cooperative. The driver was identified as Titus Norton, 29, of Mentmore.
Clark said she could smell the odor of liquor being emitted from his person. She said she also found two beer cans in his vehicle.
He agreed to take the standard field sobriety test and failed. He was then arrested for DWI. He later agreed to take a breath alcohol test and posted two samples of .17 each.
Erica Tom
March 17, 7:19 pm
Aggravated DWI (First offense)
McKinley County Sheriff Deputy Johnson Lee said he received a report of a driver weaving all over the road near the junction of State Highway 264 and U.S. Highway 491, so he went to check it out.
He said he found the vehicle at about the three-mile marker on Highway 491 and conducted a traffic stop. He said in his report that when he went up to the driver’s side of the car, he could smell the odor of liquor being emitted from the driver’s breath.
The driver was identified as Erica Tom, 29, of Mentmore. She said she had consumed only one beer at the Sagebrush Bar.
She agreed to take the standard field sobriety test, but failed when she was asked to count, and her numbers were all over the place. She was arrested for DWI.
She was also charged with possession of an open liquor bottle in her car and abuse of a child, when deputies found her child asleep in the back seat only protected by a seatbelt and no child restraining seat.
She later agreed to take a breath alcohol test and posted samples of .20 and .21.
Montel Ruiz
March 15, 4:43 pm
Aggravated DWI
McKinley County Sheriff Sgt. Monty Yazzie said he was traveling westbound on State Highway 264 when he looked in his rearview mirror and saw the vehicle behind him having problems staying in one lane.
He slowed down and allowed the vehicle to pass him, at which time he conducted a traffic stop. The only person in the vehicle was Ruiz, 32, of Navajo.
Yazzie said he asked Ruiz why he had problems staying in his lane and Ruiz reportedly responded by saying he was having a bad day and he had been talking on his cell phone with his girlfriend.
Yazzie said he noticed the odor of liquor, so he asked Ruiz if he had been drinking. Ruiz agreed to take the standard field sobriety test.
Yazzie said that as Ruiz began taking the test, something about the way he was acting made him nervous so he called for backup. Before backup arrived, however, he decided to go ahead with the testing.
During the testing, Yazzie said he asked Ruiz if he had been drinking and he responded by saying, “Sir, I don’t drink that much. I didn’t even drink today.”
Yazzie said at that point, Ruiz inserted one of his fingers in a pocket on his jeans and Yazzie ordered him to keep both hands in sight. Ruiz said there was nothing in his pocket that could hurt him.
Yazzie said he reached into Ruiz’s pocket and pulled out a small bag containing a white substance. Ruiz said he didn’t know what the substance was and had no idea how it got into his pocket.
By this time, backup arrived, but Ruiz continued to be uncooperative, so he was charged with DWI. Yazzie said he also found out that Ruiz had three outstanding arrest warrants.
He declined to take a breath alcohol test, so he was taken to the county jail and booked.
