Mother accused of 2nd DWI in wreck; child in backseat
Santa Fe woman found covered in blood on Wednesday morning; police say van’s windows were down, girl was cold
Police say they have arrested a Santa Fe mother on her second charge of DWI after finding her passed out and covered in blood in the driver’s seat of a crashed van, with her young daughter strapped in a child seat behind her.
According to a criminal complaint, the back windows were down in the van as officers arrived early Wednesday morning — a time when temperatures were well below freezing, with lows in the mid-20s — and the child, wearing only thin pajamas, was cold to the touch.
Santa Fe police on Thursday charged Jennifer Jensen, 36, with a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated, as well as a third-degree felony count of abuse of a child that does not result in death or great bodily harm. The girl, whose age was unclear, was placed in the custody of a relative.
The complaint, written by Officer Jacqueline Rowell, said that around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, Rowell was dispatched to the McDonald’s restaurant in the 3200 block of Cerrillos Road following a report of a vehicle collision.
The caller had told an emergency dispatcher that a woman in the driver’s seat of a red Toyota van was covered in blood after driving into a barrier in a parking lot, according to the criminal complaint, filed Thursday in the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.
Rowell’s narrative in the complaint offers a grim picture of what she found when she arrived.
Jensen, who was wearing only a pair of black panties, was “laying down on her back with her head against the driver’s side window,” the officer wrote.
“There was a young child in a car seat in the back seat of the van,” the complaint continued, saying the girl had no jacket and no shoes.
“The back windows were rolled down,” the complaint said. ” … There was blood splatter and smearing all over the vehicle including the driver’s window, the steering wheel, and the driver’s seat. … There was blood covering the female including dried and fresh blood all over her face, arms, torso, and legs.”
The officer also found an open container of vodka inside the van, “in front of the child on the floor.”
Police say Jensen yelled at officers while paramedics treated open wounds on her hands and arms.
After arresting Jensen, officers took her to the hospital, according to the complaint, and obtained a search warrant for a blood draw.
She was then booked in the Santa Fe County jail.
Online jail records show she was released around 8 p.m. Thursday.
Santa Fe County Magistrate George Anaya Jr. set an unsecured appearance bond of $2,500 that Jensen will have to pay if she does not appear at a preliminary hearing in January.
Anaya also ordered that Jensen be released with an electronic Breathalyzer to ensure she does not consume alcohol.
Jensen has a history of criminal cases, including DWI, child abuse and battery.
Court records show she pleaded no contest in 2003 in Gallup to a misdemeanor charge of DWI, as well as a felony charge of abandonment or abuse of a child.
In October 2014, she pleaded no contest to charges of battery and interfering with communications in a Santa Fe County case, records show.
And in September, Jensen was arrested on a third-degree felony charge of aggravated battery against a household member with a deadly weapon. That case is pending in Magistrate Court.