Alcohol and high speed combined likely contributed to a rollover accident in Fort Wingate Sept. 12.
It’s unclear the extent of injuries that driver Denise Jewel Bedonie, 22, and the passengers riding in her Chevrolet Impala sustained when she flipped it in Fort Wingate.
According to the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nacona Clark’s report, Bedonie was traveling southbound on State Highway 400 “at high rate of speed” when she approached a bend and careened between an electric pole and a tree, landing on the vehicle’s roof.
Bedonie’s boyfriend Donovan Charley, who was visiting from Phoenix, was unresponsive at the scene and flown to a hospital in Albuquerque for treatment. The report states the he was later released, but didn’t note his condition.
The 5-year-old boy that Bedonie was babysitting, who was fastened in a child carseat at the time of the accident, was admitted to a local hospital. According to Clark’s report, he stated that “his stomach and head was hurting.”
Bedonie, who is listed on the report as residing in Kayenta, reportedly told Nacona that she had been drinking Vodka that day – two bottles, possibly a fifth each. She was reportedly hospitalized for unknown injuries as well.
However, Lt. James Maiorano said the Sheriff’s department wasn’t able to get a blood draw to check her blood alcohol content since she was admitted to the hospital. Bedonie faces child abuse charges, but charges against her for both DWI and child abuse are still pending.
