Five-time convicted DWI driver arrested for same offense after alleged police chase through eastern New Mexico

A McKinley County man with five DWI convictions was arrested Monday night after reportedly urinating on the side of Interstate 40 and leading the officer who witnessed it on a 60-mile chase through eastern New Mexico.

Jimmie Yazzie, 44, of Thoreau is charged with aggravated driving while under the influence, aggravated assault upon a peace officer, aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, criminal damage to property over $1,000, reckless driving and other traffic-related charges.

Yazzie is being held at the DeBaca County Detention Center. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

Yazzie drove with a revoked driver’s license and was on parole for several DWI convictions, New Mexico State Police spokesperson Wilson Silver said.

Court records show Yazzie has been convicted of DWI five times and, in 2023, he had another DWI charge dismissed as part of a plea agreement, according to court records.

State Police identified Yazzie through a vehicle registration search, according to a statement of probable cause filed in Guadalupe County Magistrate Court.

At 9:38 p.m. Monday, a State Police officer was conducting a welfare check on a car in Quay County when they saw Yazzie urinating on the side of the road. When Yazzie saw the officer, he got into his vehicle and fled, going 113 mph on the interstate, police said.

About a half-hour later, police found Yazzie getting gas at the Route 66 Gas Station in Newkirk, according to the statement. When he was told to get away from his vehicle, Yazzie got in the car, reversed and pinned an officer between Yazzie’s driver’s door and a gas pump, which caused over $1,000 in damage to the pump.

“The door dragged me several feet as he reversed into the gas pumps striking his door into them,” the officer wrote in the report. “As I was being dragged, I was fearful for my life that Jimmie Yazzie was going to kill me.”

Yazzie fled west on I-40.

At mile post 277 in Santa Rosa, police set up spike strips that Yazzie drove over and flattened his tires. However, he kept driving until reaching an apartment complex in Santa Rosa, where he stopped and ran, police said.

Officers detained him and discovered he had bloodshot, “red watery eyes, flushed red skin” and had peed all over the front of his pants, police said. Yazzie told police he had several drinks in Tucumcari, according to the probable cause.