With a high DWI rate in the state, sobriety checkpoints are common place across New Mexico.
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But, what if you are in an emergency situation.
That’s what happened to Donald and Gwenda Hart on Aug. 15.
The Harts wrote a letter to Rio Rancho Police Chief Bob Boone, Mayor Tom Swisstack and The Observer addressing their concerns.
The letter can be seen on Page 7 of The Observer.
Basically, the Harts were saying that a DWI checkpoint set up on northbound NM 528 made it impossible for people to get to the emergency room quickly.
They wrote that their son-in-law was taking their daughter to the emergency room at about 9:30 p.m.
But, since the son-in-law knows the city so well, he was able to take back roads to High Resort and into the hospital.
The Harts ask what if someone had a life threatening episode and could not get out of the traffic jam.
They said that if someone died as a result, then the consequences would fall directly on the police department.
Rio Rancho police spokesman John Francis was one of the officers conducting the sobriety checkpoint on Aug. 15.
He was stationed near Presbyterian Hospital and he said he let two people go through the checkpoint that needed to go to the emergency room.
Regarding the checkpoint’s location, Boone said areas are chosen by areas of violation.
“They are not arbitrarily setting up checkpoints,” Boone said. “They are based upon our statistics. These things are not arbitrarily established. They are established due to violations and crashes.”
Boone said the area between Ridgecrest and Southern on NM 528 has the highest crash incident rate in the city.
The chief said he was aware of the checkpoint’s close proximity to the hospital.
“We were aware that this checkpoint was near a hospital and that is why we had a traffic control officer near the intersection in front of the hospital intersection of High Resort and NM 528 in a marked vehicle.”
Boone explained that in the rare event someone would come through in an emergency, then the officer had full instruction and discretion to allow that person to enter and avoid the remainder of the checkpoint.
Boone said that the traffic backup is not an atypical situation.
He said that can be a normal part of driving and the whole point of establishing checkpoints at that location is to remedy the situation through a reduction of crashes.
Regarding the emergency, Boone said it is best to call 911 and the police will escort you or send an ambulance to remedy the situation.
“What if there is a crash and you are stuck there? Boone said. “That is the risk you take in driving.”
“If there is that urgent of a critical situation, he should have called an ambulance and not taking the risk and driving that person to the hospital. Private parties should not be transporting emergencies to the hospital.”
Comments
8 comment(s)John Francis Beleever wrote on Sep 9, 2008 5:00 PM:
Hardly typical wrote on Sep 7, 2008 3:18 PM:
Ginger wrote on Sep 6, 2008 11:23 PM:
Rio Rancho Man wrote on Sep 5, 2008 9:26 PM:
I've had several friends wait over 20 minutes for help involving a serious situation and also watched a neighbor wait 1/2 hour once. The 911 operator just kept insisting that "help was on the way" and they should just sit tight.
Rio Rancho has added a lot of people and I don't think they have added adequate resources to back up safety.
I'm CPR certified and do have training in "Life Saving" but I'm not sure I can do it for 20 minutes straight..... "
To Rio Rancho Resident wrote on Sep 3, 2008 11:46 AM:
Rio Rancho Resident wrote on Aug 31, 2008 9:22 AM:
Rio Rancho Man wrote on Aug 28, 2008 3:59 PM:
Being a police officer puts you in a higher priority response position but that still may not help you during those "peak Times"....... "
Jennifer wrote on Aug 24, 2008 1:29 PM: