Teenage girl killed in crash caused by fleeing car thieves
APD: Man, woman ran from scene after collision
Police are combing through surveillance tapes and interviewing witnesses as they search for two suspected car thieves they say slammed a stolen van into a red Ford Taurus early Wednesday, killing one person and seriously injuring another.
Police haven’t identified the victims, but the Journal has learned that a teenage girl was killed and her mother is in critical condition. A small boy who was in the car was taken to a hospital to be checked out but was not seriously hurt, according to police.
Witnesses say a man and woman ran from the scene of the crash, which occurred in a foothills neighborhood around 7 a.m. at Chelwood Park and Copper NE.
Police say they believe the duo abandoned another truck later, which they are examining in hopes that they will find fingerprints and other evidence.
Officer Fred Duran, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said police were called to the 12000 block of Turquoise NE around 6:30 a.m. after a general contracting company reported one of its vans had been stolen from where it was warm-
ing up in front of an employee’s house.
He said the van had a GPS device and the company, M Electric, shared the location information with police. Officers found the van driving recklessly and tried to pull it over, but the driver sped away and they let it go.
“A short time later, they received information that there was a traffic crash at this intersection, and that led them to this scene,” Duran said of the crash site at Chelwood Park and Copper.
He said police were not actively pursuing the stolen van when it crashed.
Officers are not allowed to chase suspects unless the suspect is posing a clear, immediate and ongoing threat of death or great bodily harm or has committed a violent felony and would put others at risk if he or she escaped, according to APD policy. Vehicle theft, which is a property crime, typically does not reach that standard.
By the time officers arrived at the scene, the suspects had run.
Chris Montano, the service manager and safety officer for M Electric, said he had been tracking the GPS and met officers at the crash.
“The van was totaled, from what we could see, and the car was, as well,” Montano said.
By the time Montano got there, the victims had been taken to a hospital and the suspects were gone.
Duran said traffic investigators are still trying to piece together what happened and how fast the vehicles were traveling, but it appeared that the stolen van T-boned the Taurus. Both the Taurus and the van could be seen crashed on the curb in front of an apartment complex near the intersection.
Witnesses told police that a man and a woman fled from the van, but they were not able to provide detailed descriptions of the suspects, Duran said. Officers are looking at surveillance video and conducting more interviews to identify the pair.
Later that morning, a pickup truck was found abandoned in a driveway near Pennsylvania and Menaul NE, several miles from the scene of the crash. Police believe the suspects who stole the van also were in the truck, but they are working to confirm it, Duran said.
“We’re still waiting for prints to come back, but we believe those same subjects took that car this morning,” he said. “We’re waiting for prints for the van to see if we can connect the two.”
Montano said his company plans to hold a meeting to caution employees against leaving their vehicles warming up. He said employees were in shock and offered their condolences and moral support to the family of the victims.
“It’s very unfortunate that this morning’s event unfolded the way it did with this tragic ending,” Montano said. “We’re praying and hoping that the criminals are apprehended.”
Journal staff writer Nicole Perez and photographer Adolphe Pierre-Louis contributed to this report.