Man arrested in suspected DWI crash that killed 1
APD says driver was speeding when he ran a red light and hit an SUV
Albuquerque police have arrested a man they said was going more than twice the speed limit when he ran a red light and crashed into an SUV on Wyoming NE at Osuna, killing the other driver.
Matthew Shetima-Joe, 23, was booked into jail Friday morning. He is charged with homicide by vehicle (driving while intoxicated). It’s unclear who his attorney will be.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, at around midnight a lieutenant reported seeing a car, later identified as a red 2020 Challenger, speeding east on Osuna NE toward Wyoming. She said she had made a U-turn and attempted a traffic stop, but the driver turned off the car’s head and tail lights, and she lost sight of it.
Shortly after that, witnesses said the Challenger ran a red light and struck a Toyota Sequoia that was going north on Wyoming. The Toyota was severely damaged, pushed off the roadway and rolled over.
According to the complaint, the Toyota’s driver — the only occupant in the SUV — died at the scene. The driver has not been publicly identified.
The lieutenant who had initially reported the incident said that, when she approached the crash scene, Shetima-Joe got out of his car, began yelling at her and other officers, and threw a folding knife from his pocket away from him. Officers were able to de-escalate the scene and got Shetima-Joe to sit down on a short wall.
“Upon my initial contact with Mr. Shetima, I introduced myself and the first words he said to me were, ‘yeah, I’ve been drinking a little bit,’” the officer wrote in the complaint. “Later, during my contact with him, he said ‘I am intoxicated.’”
Shetima-Joe told police he believed he was going 78 mph in an area with a posted speed limit of 35 mph, according to the complaint. He was treated for a leg injury then booked into jail.