Albuquerque streets were host to dozens of major traffic crashes — including four rollovers — in what a police department spokesman called “crazy crash Sunday.”
Albuquerque police officer Simon Drobik said police responded to 33 minor crashes and 26 major crashes with injuries.
Asked for crash numbers for a more typical day, Drobik said simply, “Nothing like that.”
“I don’t think there’s a normal, but … four rollovers before 8:00 (p.m.) is pretty unique,” he said.
Within a six-hour span on Sunday, rollovers were reported at Montgomery and Wyoming; San Mateo and Pan American Freeway; Rio Grande and Indian School; and Eubank and Central.
Meanwhile, a driver who police believe was on heroin, crashed into parked vehicles in the 2800 block of Quincy, near San Mateo and Menaul. Neighbors zip-tied the driver to a fence as they waited for officers to respond.
Just 20 minutes later, and a couple miles away, a male driver crashed into seven vehicles parked outside of Lovelace Women’s Hospital on Montgomery near San Mateo. The man fled the scene wearing a blond wig and carrying a handbag.
Drobik said excessive speed and driver inattention were to blame in nearly all of the crashes.
Traffic crashes drain department resources, as investigators generally spend hours on scene, often closing intersections and requiring even more officers to help divert traffic.
“These things take a lot of time and manpower,” he said.
Drobik said accidents happen but that Sunday was unique.
“Crazy crash Sunday,” he said. “That’s what I’m calling it.”
He reminded drivers who are involved in minor wrecks to exchange information and drive to a local substation to file a report.
“We’ll still come out, of course, if you want us to,” he said. “But that’s an option.”
