Another arrest made after police halted street racing in Albuquerque over the weekend
ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – Another arrest is being made following a dangerous street racing rally in Albuquerque over the weekend. A new video shows the blatant disregard people had for other drivers and assistants.
Around midnight Saturday, Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies stopped at the college and Indian school to find cars blocking the intersection and a red Ford Mustang doing donuts.
“There are quite a few dangers there and frankly it’s not entirely legal to block an intersection in the road for your own entertainment,” BCSO Deputy Sheriff Larry Koren said.
He was piloting the helicopter which ended up following this Mustang driver from above as he quickly got away from law enforcement. He said the helicopter was patrolling, under increased operations due to more complaints of street racers in the northern part of the city.
“The topic was driving in oncoming lanes, driving on the shoulder, cutting people off… disregarding a lot of traffic rules,” Koren said.
Deputies eventually caught up with and arrested the suspected driver, Nicholas Mahmoundi, 19, and his passenger Odalys Pena, 19, at a building near UNM. On Wednesday, BCSO announced another arrest from that night.
MPs say 18-year-old Jose Mandujano tried to stop MPs from smashing everything by sitting on the bonnet of an MP’s car. BCSO released dash cam video of the incident, saying in a Facebook post it’s an example of how some bad behavior has become “brazen”.
“You’re helping someone evade the police by sitting on the bonnet of an MP’s car and that’s illegal. And you will end up having to answer that,” Koren said. The BCSO said it is seeing an increase in calls about speeding, racing and reckless driving. Koren said they would continue to do operations to arrest him.
“I hope those other drivers or participants in this activity realize that it’s not all fun and games, that there’s a danger to that and they might want to go for it. front and sit down,” Koren said. Mandujano faces a number of charges, including disorderly conduct and public nuisance.