A McKinley County employee was jailed and later released Dec. 25 from the McKinley County Adult Detention Center on a misdemeanor assault on a household member charge, records show.

Patrick Woods, 42, deputy director at Metro Dispatch, was arrested early Christmas morning after Gallup police were dispatched to his West Jefferson residence.

Upon arrival, they found Woods, a 44-year-old woman, and their 22-year-old son in the living room of the home, according to a police report on the matter by Gallup Police Officer Joe Roanhorse.

“(The son) stated that he saw his father pick up a chair and throw it at his mom,” the report reads. “(The son) stated his parents argued for a while...

The legal limit is .08

Queena M. Kien

Dec. 24, 3:11 am

Aggravated DWI

Kien, an Emergency Room nurse at Gallup Indian Medical Center, had the tables turned on her when she crashed her vehicle on NM 118 at 1-40 exit 33. No other cars were involved in the wreck, McKinley County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Roxanne King stated in her report.

Kien, 36, said that she had worked a 12-hour shift and fell asleep at the wheel, missing the exit. King noted that Kien had bloodshot, watery eyes and reeked of alcohol, but she initially denied having anything to drink. Paramedics, who knew her by first name, checked on her physical condition. Kien advised them that she was OK.

King asked...

DINE AND DASH

1/3, GALLUP

Well, maybe this seemed like a fun thing to do when you were about 16, but no fun for servers and business owners. And it’s a crime. This didn’t stop Dewayne Yazzie, 49, though, from giving it a shot at the east side Denny’s.

A server approached MCSO Deputy Merlin Benally as he fueled up his patrol unit at the nearby Shell gas station on Hwy 66. The server had caught up with Yazzie inside of the convenience store. He dined, then dashed from a $6.66 ticket.

He was booked for falsely obtaining services.

BEAT FOR A GOOD DEED

1/1, YAHTAHEY

McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Johnson Lee was dispatched to Palm Harbor Homes in reference to a...

Robber takes batteries, sunglasses

A Yatahey man jailed Christmas Eve on an armed robbery charge bonded out of the McKinley County Adult Detention Center a few days later, records show.

Robert Brown, 30, had no idea that the moment he decided to rob the Giant at 3340 E. Historic Highway 66 was the same instance that a deputy sheriff from the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office was at the store. Brown was carrying a 4-foot silver ninja sword at the time of the robbery.

“I was on routine patrol to use the air pump,” Deputy Merlin Benally wrote in a police report on the matter. Benally saw Brown, who was wearing all black and carrying “a long silver item,” quickly walk away from...