SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Police say a driver passed out behind the wheel in a stranger’s yard was on heroin.
Officer: “Can you get off the vehicle. Just stand up straight for me. Stay right here. Stay right here.”
Barely able to stand on his own two feet, Santa Fe police suspected they had a drunk driver on their hands. Earlier this month, police say 55-year-old Raymond Tapia had crashed into a trailer and was asleep at the wheel.
Officer: “Yeah, but how did this happen?”
Tapia: “Oh, I just jumped that curb because they didn’t want me to park right here.”
Tapia: “I was passing out.”
Officer: “Why were you passing out?”
Tapia: “Huh?”
Officer: “Why were you passing out?”
Tapia: “Well not passing out, just like resting.”
Officer: “Why were you resting?”
Tapia: “I don’t know, just resting.”
Police began to suspect more than just alcohol was involved.
Officer: “Can you roll up that sleeve a little bit? I wanna see right here… When’s the last time you used heroin?”
Tapia: “Ohh, about two weeks ago.”
Then officers found a syringe in his car.
Officer: “There’s a fresh track mark on the inside of your arm.”
Tapia: “I don’t do it that often.”
They began to do field sobriety tests, and this wasn’t Tapia’s first time. He already has six DWIs for driving drunk or high. After his last conviction in 2011, a judge sentenced him to a year in jail and ordered him to install an interlock in any car he drives for the rest of his life.
It didn’t appear that Tapia had an ignition interlock this time, although they only work for alcohol. If convicted in this case, Tapia could face two to three years in prison.
