ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A car crashed into a southwestern Albuquerque family’s backyard, narrowly missing their four-year-old’s playroom on Saturday. The person driving the car fled from the scene. The family says they’re frustrated by police response and want to find the person responsible.
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“We heard a really big screech and then a crash and my house vibrated a little bit; I heard my daughter yell, [and] immediately me and my husband like went into action,” said Mazie Spake, whose backyard was the one the car crashed into.
Around 9:00 p.m. Saturday night, a car drove into Spake and her family’s backyard. Her husband was the first to see it: “That’s when he told me, ‘Hey Mazie, call the cops,’ like, ‘you need to get a hold of somebody a vehicle is in our backyard.”
The car came really close to their house. “It could’ve been way worse,” Spake said, “They could have hit one foot over and they could have hit my daughter’s playroom.” The four-year-old girl is not physically injured, but is shaken. “She’s okay, she’s really frazzled. She won’t go into her playroom right now without somebody with her,” Spake said.
Spake says that after they called the police, the man driving the car grabbed a backpack full of things and ran off and ran down the street into one of their neighbor’s homes.
“My husband said when he walked up to make sure that the man was okay, he had reeked of pot and alcohol,” Spake said. She says they were shocked when, instead of Albuquerque Police Department officers, Police Service Aides (PSA) showed up to the incident: “When we asked, ‘Hey is APD coming out?’ They said no, typically they don’t send people out for traffic violations or like traffic infractions that are pretty minor. I’m like, well this isn’t very minor and the guy left, you know.”
Through their investigation, Spake said the PSAs found the car did not belong to the man who crashed it and found enough evidence in the vehicle for other felony charges.
“It’s been really stressful since, we’ve been having to deal with appraisers coming in and having to get this wall rebuilt and it’s a little awkward because our kids play in the backyard and the mailboxes are right here for our entire neighborhood so people walking by, not any privacy,” Spake said.
“We just feel very invaded right now and very frustrated,” Spake said. She has a message for the community: “I want people to be aware of your surroundings and make sure you are videoing every single thing.”
