Motorcyclist killed in suspected DWI

A 51-year-old motorcyclist was killed Friday afternoon when an alleged drunken driver pulled into his lane on southbound Unser NW.

The driver, 24-year-old Amanda Casaus, immediately tried to run away after striking Peter Lafond’s red-and-white motorcycle. Police caught her and found that she was drunk, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman said.

Casaus is now at the Metropolitan Detention Center facing a vehicular homicide charge. She has never been convicted or charged with DWI in the past, according to online court records.

Police said Casaus was driving east in her four-door Dodge sedan on Molten Rock NW and rammed into Lafond, who was wearing a helmet, as she pulled into Lafond’s traffic lane on Unser shortly after 4 p.m. Friday.

Lafond was pronounced dead at the scene.

Neighbors at a subdivision east of the intersection have asked the city for several years to install a stoplight at Unser and Molten Rock.

Though Casuas was allegedly drunk at the time of the crash, Gayle Finch said sober drivers turning onto Unser, where the speed limit is 45 mph, are always nervous when crossing four lanes of traffic.

“It’s scary as hell,” Finch said, adding that her teenage son is learning to drive. “I’m terrified of him pulling out of there,” she said.

Stoplights are installed half a mile north at Rainbow Boulevard and a mile and a half south on Montaño Road.

Joe Martinez, a Volcano Cliffs resident since 2007, said he has seen five accidents at the Unser and Molten Rock intersection since 2008, including a rollover and another motorcycle crash.

He said the city, in its response to the neighborhood’s requests, has cited cost and lack of traffic as reason for not installing a stoplight.

Finch acknowledged that not much traffic collects behind her as she waits, frequently for 10 minutes or so, to pull onto Unser. Martinez said he and his wife often wait for 20 minutes or longer at the intersection.