Pilfered pants prompt high-speed pursuit

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Police said a shoplifting suspect running from cops was also drunk when she hit 110 miles an hour on Interstate 25 Friday morning whizzing past other drivers who pulled over to get out of her way.

Kimberly Calabaza, 21, and Dordale Nez, 24, were both charged with shoplifting. Calabaza was also charged with seven more counts to include aggravated DUI.

Police said Thursday morning Calabaza and Nez walked out of a Santa Fe Walmart with some T-shirts and a pair of dress pants without paying. Sgt. Andrea Dobyns said witnesses spotted Calabaza and Nez get into a black pickup truck.

Police said the truck hit another car as Calabaza tried to speed away.

Moments later an officer would spot the vehicle described in the shoplifting and start the pursuit down several main streets in Santa Fe and then onto I-25.

Dobyns said at times Calabaza reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. Dash camera video from police in the pursuit showed other drivers were forced to pull over.

Police would quickly learn that Calabaza was not only driving erratically because she was trying to get away.

“He realized there was probably something more going on,” Dobyns said.

Police deployed spike strips on I-25, several miles after the pursuit began, and that is when the chase started to slow down.

“Front tire is completely gone, rim only, were down to about 40 miles per hour on front rim,” an officer can be heard saying in dash-camera video from one of the pursuing police vehicles.

The driver stopped near the exit to La Cienega and finally gave up showing her hands outside the window. When officers finally handcuffed Calabaza they said she was drunk, blowing a 0.20, which is more than twice the presumed level of intoxication.

Police found the stolen pair of pants and some T-shirts.  Dobyns said officers were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

“One our biggest fear is there is a crashinvolving  the officer, the suspect, or anybody else that is driving,” Dobyns said

Police said there was a third person in the truck, Derek Lovato, 19, who was also drunk. He was charged with minor under the influence.

Dobyns said police found beer cans, malt liquor, a marijuana pipe and a rifle inside the pickup.