War Zone Mom Flees from Police with Child in Car, Crack Pipe Found Near Child’s Seat

Albuquerque –

On July 13th, at around 2:30PM, an Albuquerque Police Department officer saw a Mustang at the Smoke City Smoke Shop near Central and Indiana. Lingering near the car was a possible felony suspect.

According to the criminal complaint, 32-year-old Jessica Tafoya was in the driver seat of the Mustang when she saw an officer watching her. The officer decided to initiate a traffic stop on Tafoya and she made a silly decision to flee. The officer at the time observed an adult male and a young child also in the vehicle.

The War Zone mom decided to randomly stop in the middle of Central and Louisiana traffic and the officer gave PA commands for her to give up her bad driving decisions. Tafoya did not give up and instead fled again going northbound on Louisiana.

Officers swarmed the area to attempt to find the vehicle after it fled and a short distance later they found the Mustang involved in a minor traffic crash with a truck.

Two occupants were taken into custody without incident and the small child was whisked away to safety. The male was identified as Tafoya’s boyfriend, Steven Sanchez. While on scene we saw an officer providing a cute stuffed teddy bear to the young child. We also observed a McDonald’s bag inside the car with some uneaten food. The criminal complaint does not say if the two were on an impromptu War Zone picnic before they were interrupted by the observant police.

The criminal complaint goes on to say Tafoya was ordered by Sanchez to flee from the police and she obeyed her lover. She told the officer she takes full responsibility for her actions. She admitted to using drug paraphernalia in the car and it was located inside her purse. The officer did find an additional crack pipe near where the child was sitting.

Sanchez was interviewed by police and he did not answer any questions and it was discovered that he was on probation. He was released from custody and told to contact his probation officer for being around drugs and horrible drivers.

Tafoya’s child was picked up by a grandparent and Tafoya was booked into MDC for aggravated fleeing law enforcement, and child abuse.