Alleged Drunk 24 Year Old Throws 15 Year Old Brother Under The Bus

Officers report:

On November 4, 2023, at approximately 2327 hours, I, Officer David Savage, was patrolling in the southeast area of Albuquerque, specifically in the area of Coors and Interstate 40. I was patrolling southbound Coors near the Bluewater intersection when I noticed a white Chevy Sedan travelling at a high rate of speed approaching me from the rear. I was traveling at the speed limit of 45 miles per hour and the vehicle approached very quickly and passed me. The vehicle approached the intersection of Coors and Fortuna from my rear and abruptly changed lanes between two vehicles with very little room, nearly striking the vehicles. This lane change was very fast and gave very little, if any, time of a lane change signal before crossing over. The vehicle then began accelerating back up to a high rate of speed southbound Coors. I noticed the vehicle went back into lane number 3 of Coors and began passing all traffic in the right lane. I caught up to the vehicle while pacing it and retrieved a single radar read at 70 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone. Before initiating a traffic stop, I witnessed the vehicle fail to maintain its lane of traffic as it crossed a lane dividing line at the intersection of Coors and Bluewater. I activated my emergency equipment and initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle. The vehicle made an abrupt turn into a business (Walgreens) parking lot near Coors and Central. The vehicle made such a sudden turn, it nearly struck the curb as it pulled into the lot. As I stopped my patrol vehicle, I noticed the driver, wearing a white shirt, jump into the back seat of the vehicle and the front passenger jump into the driver's seat. The vehicle’s suspension and body of the car rebounded as I watched the driver jump to the rear. The passenger that jumped into the driver's seat was identified as a 15-year-old unlicensed juvenile. Upon speaking with the Juvenile at the driver’s side window, I instantly could smell the odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage coming from within the car. I attempted to identify E.T. but he stated he was “underage” and didn’t have a license.

Due to the uncertainty of weapons, possible warrants for his arrest, and his evasive behavior, I had the subject who jumped from the driver's seat step out of the vehicle. I opened the car door to see if there was any type of weapons in the male’s hands in the backseat. There were only the two occupants in the vehicle. I identified the male who jumped into the backseat, wearing a white shirt, as Mr. Michael Tenorio (Defendant) by his social security number. I ran Defendant’s SSN through NCIC to verify there were active warrants and I noticed Defendant had a revoked DWI related license along with an interlock clause. The male was continually evasive to my questioning throughout my interaction with him as he stated he “wasn’t driving” and tried to blame his younger brother.

While speaking with Defendant, he stated he was not driving even though I saw the white shirt he was wearing clearly jump into the backseat. As I spoke with Defendant, I could smell the odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage coming from his breath as he spoke. I noticed Defendant's eyes were bloodshot, red, and watery. Defendant was slurring his speech heavily as he spoke. The Defendant continued to slur as he rambled “I don’t know what you’re talking about” and “he was driving”. He continued to ramble these phrases throughout my questioning. While he spoke, his speech was very delayed on top of his slurring, and I noticed when he would blink his eye lids moved in a delayed manner. When I asked why I could smell the odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage coming from the Defendant’s breath, he avoided the question and said, “that’s up to you”.

I began to speak with the Juvenile. The Juvenile stated his brother “had a little bit to drink and was making dumb decisions” The juvenile also started crying on scene and said he was told to switch seats upon my traffic stop. He said he was scared and that’s why he changed seats with his brother.
Based on my observations from the Defendant, I had him perform a series of Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST's). Defendant refused all SFST’s on scene and stated, “arrest me if you’re going to”. The Defendant continually refused all testing even when I offered to bring another officer to the scene.

Upon denial of all SFST's and based on my training, experience, and the totality of the circumstances, I determined the Defendant was impaired and unable to operate a motor vehicle safely. I placed the Defendant under arrest for driving under the influence of an intoxicating liquor and/or drugs.
At 2339 hours, the Defendant was arrested for Driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Defendant was taken back to the NMSP office in Albuquerque.

News article: https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque...