ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)- An Albuquerque grandmother and retired teacher, is fighting for her life after police say a drunk driver plowed into her, outside her Northeast Albuquerque home Saturday afternoon.
“I heard the crash and somebody start screaming no no no,” said Daniel King, a neighbor that called 911.
He said he heard the horrific sound of the tragic crash that severely injured Laura Montoya.
“We were yelling to stop and he wouldn’t,” said Melonie King.
Police said Montoya was standing outside a car, saying goodbye to her granddaughter when a man driving a black Jeep hit her. He then crashed into the home, and backed up over Montoya again, before fleeing the scene.
Neighbors said the driver, Darren Kitseallyboy, flew through a stop sign on Bellamah before plowing into Montoya in her driveway along Dakota Street.
“She was not conscious at first, she then became conscious, her abdomen was open, and her leg was crushed,” said Melonie King.
Police quickly located Kitseallyboy after he sped from the neighborhood, in the parking lot of Freedom High School. In a criminal complaint, police said the car had extensive front damage, and they found parts of stucco from the house on Dakota in the parking lot and on the vehicle.
Police also said Kitseallyboy admitted to being the driver of the jeep during the crash, and that he fled the scene and admitted to drinking alcohol. After refusing a standardized field sobriety test, police arrested him.
Montoya’s brother-in-law said her condition is touch and go.
“It’s a terrible time a really bad tragedy, Laura is just the nicest person in the world,” said Dennis Montoya.
He said his sister-in-law, has had three surgeries in the last 24 hours.
Kitseallyboy was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death or great bodily harm.
Dennis Montoya said he has a message to the driver, “you should never drive a motor vehicle again in your life and you should really be praying more than anyone else, that my sister in law makes a full recovery.”
