A New Mexico mother was killed on her way to work after a suspected drunk driver plowed into her vehicle.
41-year-old Janelle Katesigwa, an Albuquerque mother of four, was hit and killed back in May.
In a newly released police video, the alleged drunk driver, Jennifer Munoz, is seen asking a police officer if she could smoke a cigarette while Janelle lay dead and her own passenger screamed in pain.
"What was that ma’am?" the officer responded, according to a video of the incident that was obtained by KRQE-TV of Albuquerque.
"Can I just smoke a cigarette?" the 26-year-old responded.
"I would not do that right now," the officer told Munoz.
"Please," Munoz said while her passenger, Christina Banks, was screaming in pain.
"Let them try to help your friend," the officer told Munoz.
Witnesses said Munoz tried to flee on foot before police arrived.
"She was trying to like get out of the vehicle," a witness said. "Like she said, 'I just live down the street.'"
Police say Munoz was speeding at 90 miles an hour in a 35-mph zone and had run a red light just before crashing into Janelle, who was driving to work at a local McDonald’s.
According to the authorities, Munoz smelled of alcohol and had admitted to drinking a couple of shots before getting behind the wheel.
After the police received a warrant to search her vehicle, they said they found a bottle and flask of tequila, beer, and a jar with THC capsules.
Munoz didn’t respond much when police questioned her again at the hospital.
"Are you able to tell me how much did you have to drink?" the officer asked.
To which Munoz did not verbally respond, however, a blood test taken five hours after the crash showed the alcohol levels in her system to be almost double the legal limit.
Munoz was charged with vehicular homicide and will stay behind bars until trial. If convicted she will face up to 15 years in prison.
"There is no way even if I put her on the strictest conditions whatsoever, or tell her not to drive, put her on a GPS monitor, essentially put her on house arrest, I don’t think that those are strict enough to prevent something like this happening to another citizen of our community," the judge said at her bail hearing.
The mother of four died on impact.
One of her daughters was on her way to work when she saw her mom’s car involved in a crash.
"She looked and called my mom to see if she was at work, and when she didn’t answer she checked her location," Janelle's daughter, Naomi Katesigwa told KRQE in May.
"And when the location showed it was the same spot as the car accident, she called me," Naomi said.
"In the moment, my body was frozen," Janelle’s husband, Silver Katesigwa said. "I couldn’t believe that my wife was gone."
"We are going to be in pain for the rest of our lives," Silver said. "This has changed our lives."
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
