By Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Special to the SUN

New Mexico State Police arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly drunkenly causing a fatal car crash on March 29, after he was reported by his employer as driving drunk toward Farmington.

State Police officers charged Crescencio Baldazo, of Carlsbad, with homicide by vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident causing death, failure to maintain a traffic lane, careless driving and open container of alcohol in a car. He is referred to as Crescencio Castro Baldazo and Crescencio Castro in court documents.

The crash killed Jasper Bunny, 55, of Farmington, who was driving a water truck. When Baldazo’s pickup truck allegedly crashed into the water truck, the water truck overturned, throwing Bunny from the cab. While Bunny was flown by helicopter to the San Juan Regional Medical Center, he died there from his injuries, State Police Officer Bryant Cox wrote in an amended criminal complaint.

The Crash

Cox wrote that at 10:38 a.m., Baldazo’s supervisor called dispatchers to tell them his employee was driving drunk toward Farmington and was reported by co-workers to have been drinking all night. He reported the last location as Mile Post 106 on U.S. Highway 550.

Cox and Officer Maxwell Jojola headed that way to try and find the white truck when, at 11:02 a.m., they were sent to a crash with injuries in the same area. The crash involved a white truck and a water truck. A volunteer firefighter was reported to be at the scene and said that Bunny had “severe injuries,” Cox wrote.

While he was driving there, an unidentified off-duty Texas Highway Patrol officer, in his patrol car, called in that he witnessed the crash and the truck fled the scene and was headed south.

“The Texas Officer also informed dispatch that when he activated the red and blue lights on his patrol vehicle, the white pickup left the scene,” Cox wrote.

The Texas officer then gave an update on Bunny’s condition and stayed with him. He said Bunny was conscious, but not breathing normally, Cox wrote.

At 11:17 a.m., a man called dispatchers to say a drunk man in a white truck was on the side of the road and he stopped him from leaving, Cox wrote.

At 11:27 a.m., Jojola got to the scene of the crash, started rendering aid and reported that Bunny had a partially amputated leg and had a helicopter sent to the scene, Cox wrote.

At 11:37 a.m., Cox found the white truck and Baldazo. The truck was missing its bumper, reportedly left at the scene with the water truck. Baldazo told Cox he couldn’t remember anything. He smelled like alcohol, had glassy eyes and denied drinking. He refused to do field sobriety tests. When officers talked to the man who stopped on the side of the road, he said he was driving home from church when he stopped and Baldazo made “weird” statements like “God sent You” and acted like he was drunk, slurred his words and had watery eyes.

Inside the cab of the truck, Cox found three open 16-oz. Michelob Ultra cans, all with beer still in them.

At the State Police office in Farmington at 3:28 p.m., five hours after the crash, Baldazo had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 and 0.20, according to a Breathalyzer test, but the blank gave a purge error. At the Farmington Police Department, the results were 0.19 and 0.18. The legal per se limit is 0.08.

Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist filed a for an extension of time in the case, on March 30, to evaluate whether he will request that Baldazo be held without bail pending trial as a danger to the community.