BY: ABQ RAW staff
POSTED: 07/30/2023 @6:45AM
Wilanna Nez of Sandy, Utah
Albuquerque, NM –
On July 28th, 2023, an Albuquerque Police Officer was dispatched to an apartment complex located at 8333 Comanche Blvd. NE. in reference to an intoxicated female knocking on random doors.
According to a criminal complaint, APD officers arrived on scene to find Wilanna Nez, of Sandy, Utah at the Albuquerque complex intoxicated and passed out behind the wheel of her vehicle.
The complaint goes on to say an officer spent over a minute trying to wake her from a drunken stupor. Nez woke up and exited her vehicle to speak to the officer. At some point Nez re-entered her car and then started to push down the gas pedal and apparently planned to flee from police.
The complaint said, the officer reached into the vehicle in an attempt to pull Nez out of the vehicle. The officer was not able to gain control of Nez. While trying to control of Nez she placed her vehicle in reverse and began backing the vehicle up approximately 15 to 20 yards from the parking lot into a piece of landscape filled with large rocks,
While in reverse, the officer was knocked over and the officer was pulled under the driver side door and dragged by the vehicle into the rocks. The officer said that her right knee was pinned between the driver side door and the ground as she was being dragged until she was finally able to roll out from underneath the door. The officer was taken to a local hospital to evaluate her injuries.
The vehicle then fled the scene, Nez was last seen headed eastbound on Comanche. Fellow officers observed lacerations on the left arm of the officer and the officer complained of shooting pain in her right leg. The officer was found on scene with large amounts of dirt on the backside of her uniform and a golf ball sized rock was lodged in her duty belt.
Nez was eventually apprehended and there were many alcohol bottles in her vehicle. While in custody Nez was able to slip out of her handcuffs but was re-handcuffed. Nez refused to be sobriety tested on scene, and refused any breath tests at the Prisoner Transport Center.
Nez was booked on the charges of aggravated DWI, aggravated battery upon a peace officer, and aggravated fleeing from law enforcement.