NM State Police announce beer and drugs found in DA Hatfield’s crashed SUV – The Journal

Montezuma County District Attorney issues copy of state report; Journal receives redacted report from Farmington Sheriff

District Attorney Christian Hatfield of the 22nd Judicial District appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both when he crashed his SUV on U.S. Highway 64 east of Farmington on Aug. 30, according to reports released by The Journal.

On Friday, Hatfield provided a copy of the New Mexico State Police report to the Cortez newspaper. The Journal A week after requesting the report, he also received a heavily and questionably redacted copy of the San Juan County Sheriff's Office report.

State police, who led the investigation, reported that there was “no evidence” that the vehicle “attempted to slow down or brake before crashing.” Possible causes included driver inattention and alcohol influence.

Hatfield's sobriety was described as “consumption of alcohol, use of controlled substances,” and the state police report stated that an open package of “Mexican Lagger (sic)” was found on the passenger floorboard, as well as a “pill bottle with several pills in it next to this open package labeled Ambien.”

The pills were allegedly prescribed to Hatfield, who said The Journal on September 5 that he could not remember anything that led to the crash.

The New Mexico State Police report was unredacted and contained basic information about the accident.

The Journal learned of Hatfield's accident on Aug. 31 and requested an accident report from the San Juan County Sheriff's Office in New Mexico on Sept. 3. The newspaper received the redacted report from the sheriff's office on Sept. 10, seven days after its request and 11 days after the accident east of Route 5099 between Farmington and Bloomfield.

The sheriff's office report redacted Hatfield's name, which was listed as a confidential law enforcement file. The office cited Section 14-2-1 of the Inspection of Public Records Act.

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government challenged the sheriff's office's removal in a Sept. 12 letter from attorney Amanda Levin. Levin stated that the two sections of law cited by the sheriff's office did not appear to apply to the removal.

The first issue brought to the attention of the Sheriff's Office concerned the removal of Hatfield's name, which was described as a “protected personal identifier.”

Levin explained that “protected personal identification information refers only to all digits of a tax ID number, bank account number, credit or debit card number, or driver's license other than the last four digits, as well as all information other than the year of an individual's birth date, Social Security number, and a public employee's home address.”

“It appears that the cuts made here go beyond what is permitted by law,” Levin said.

There were also concerns about other deletions under the law relating to “visual recordings” that “depict serious bodily harm or acts of serious violence.”

“These incident reports are not visual records; rather, they are written records that are unlikely to contain images depicting serious bodily injury or serious violence resulting in serious bodily injury,” Levin wrote, adding that she believes Section 14-2-1 “does not apply to any of the information contained in these incident reports and cannot be the basis for strikes.”

The San Juan County Sheriff's Office had not responded to Levin's letter as of Friday evening.

Although Hatfield’s name was redacted from the sheriff’s office report, The Journal in Cortez And Tri-City Record in Farmington confirmed that the vehicle listed in both the State Police report and the Sheriff's Office report was a blue 2020 Toyota 4Runner with Colorado license plate EEPO15.

According to the redacted report from the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, a deputy arrived at the scene of the crash around 1 a.m. and found the blue Toyota 4Runner “parked perpendicular to the guardrail in the outside and center lanes,” according to the incident report.

“Debris was scattered throughout the road and the railing was destroyed from the beginning of 5099 Street to about 15 feet east,” the officer said in his report.

The deputy reported a “pungent” odor of “alcoholic beverage” coming from the man, whom state police identified as Hatfield, and launched an investigation into the accident. He found that Hatfield was “barely able to stand on his own” and had to be transported to San Juan Regional Medical Center, where he was “intubated with a chest tube,” according to the accident report.

The officer's report stated that the offenses associated with the accident included driving under the influence of intoxicating beverages or drugs and possession of an open bottle of alcohol.

The San Juan County Sheriff's Office announced its role in the case on September 5, in response to questions from Tri-City Record.

“A drunk driving investigation is ongoing, pending blood results,” San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine if drugs or alcohol were involved.

“We are not yet in a position to launch an attack,” said Ferrari.

Hatfield, who was recovering at home, said The Journal on September 5 that he could not remember the crash.

“Apparently there was an accident, and it's a crazy story, but I went to bed and my wife was already asleep. I crawled into bed and woke up 16 hours later in the intensive care unit,” Hatfield said. “Nothing like that has ever happened to me before, and I don't remember anything after I went to bed.”

Hatfield said he was in intensive care with two collapsed lungs and had to be intubated bilaterally, but is now back working in Cortez after a brief recovery break.

Bailey Duran reports for The Journal in Cortez and Debra Mayeux reports for the Tri-City Record in Farmington. Both newspapers are owned by Durango-based Ballantine Communications Inc.

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