DWI stop ends in suicide

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

WINDOW ROCK — A DWI stop outside Shiprock last week turned into a suicide.

According to Navajo Police reports, NPD Officer Felicia Freeman responded to a drunken driver call west of mile marker 22 on U.S. Highway 64, Jan. 23. A caller said the large, black four-by-four pickup was driving erratically.

Freeman found the truck, which had Colorado license plates and followed it a short distance. But that was long enough to see it careen over the shoulder, over-correct and almost crash. Freeman engaged her unit’s red-and-blue lights and the pickup pulled onto the access road, slowed and stopped.

As she exited the cruiser, Freeman heard what sounded like fireworks. But as she approached the pickup, she discovered the actual source of the noise. The driver had shot and killed himself with a .44-caliber Ruger, according to the report.

Police later found that the pickup was stolen out of Colorado.