Driver crashes into police academy

There are worse places for a suspected drunken driver to crash a car — at least from a public safety standpoint.

Police say a 23-year-old Santa Fe man crashed through a fence and onto New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy property Monday afternoon, coming to rest on a driving track where officers had been in training.

No one was injured in the crash.

Jose Jimenez was arrested and booked into the Santa Fe County Detention Center on charges of driving while intoxicated.

Officer Ray Wilson, a spokesman for the State Police, said that around 2:30 p.m. State Police officers were called to the academy on Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. He said when they arrived they found Jimenez had driven his 2008 Nissan Altima over a dirt berm and onto the driving track.

“The investigation indicated that before crashing through the fence, Jimenez was traveling south on Meadows Road when he crossed oncoming lanes, drove through a field on the northeast corner of South Meadows Road and Camino Entrada, crossed Camino Entrada, and then drove through the fence surrounding the LEA,” Wilson wrote in a news release.

He said the 2019 NMSP Youth Academy was being held on the grounds. Officers had been teaching driving techniques to the academy and they had just left the track when the crash occurred.

“Members of the Santa Fe Police Department Motor Team were also on the track conducting their own training,” Wilson wrote.

He said officers determined Jimenez had been driving while intoxicated. It was his second DWI, Wilson said.