Gallup Officer Jarad Albert was parked in his patrol car near Ellis Tanner Trading Company, 1980 State Hwy. 602, about 7:11 pm on June 22 when a witness approached him and reported a drunk driver.
The witness said the driver was heading northbound into town, and that the vehicle was a silver car with heavy damage to the passenger side. He said the car almost hit him, and that the woman driving tried to hide her face as she drove away.
Albert started looking for this alleged drunk driver, and while he was driving past Speedway South, 1730 S. Second St., he noticed a car that matched the description parked at one of the gas pumps. He met Kayla Brown, 27, who he noticed had bloodshot eyes and he could also smell alcohol coming off of her.
Brown slurred her words when she told Albert she hadn’t been the one driving, but that the driver was inside the gas station. According to his report, Albert noticed that there was an open can of Truly hard seltzer in the passenger’s side door panel.
Albert placed Brown in the back of his patrol car. He then met with the woman who Brown said had been the one driving. The woman told Albert that Brown was the one who’d been driving, and that she had been the one drinking.
While Albert was speaking with the woman, he noticed that the woman had bloodshot eyes, slurred her speech while she was speaking, and he could also smell alcohol coming off of her.
In his report Albert noted that both women appeared to be intoxicated, so he put both of them in the backseat of his patrol car. While he was walking around his patrol car, Albert allegedly saw a young girl sitting in the backseat of the silver car.
Albert charged Brown with child abandonment and transported her to the Gallup Police Department while Officer Ryan Boucher stayed at the scene with the child so that a family member could pick her up.
Brown told Albert that she’d been driving around with her boyfriend before they got into an argument about drinking and he dropped her off at the Family Dollar, 2041 S. Second St. She said that she’d had two half pints of Black Cherry 99 vodka and a half bottle of Corona beer before she was dropped off.
The other woman came and picked her up, but Brown said that she hadn’t known she’d been drinking.
Brown’s pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 7.
Staff Reports
