LAS CRUCES, NM – A New Mexico State Representative is speaking out about his family’s ordeal last month, when they were involved in a crash with a 12-year-old driver in Las Cruces.
KRQE reported on the interview with Representative Zach Cook regarding the incident that occurred Sept. 12.
This is an update to a previous story.
Authorities said the 12-year-old was behind the wheel of a stolen SUV with several teenagers in the vehicle along with him. The boy was fleeing from Dona Ana County deputies at speeds of up to 80 miles an hour and was going in the wrong direction on Bataan Memorial East when he crashed head-on into Cook’s vehicle.
“There was a car just barreling towards us,” Cook was quoted as saying. “I tried to move around it. There was nowhere to go and there was no time either. He just ended up crashing into us.”
Cook said his mother-in-law was hospitalized with a broken arm, his wife sustained two broken ribs, and that he and his sons suffered cuts and bruises in the wreck. He said the family had driven from their home in Ruidoso into Las Cruces for a shopping trip when they were struck by the other vehicle.
The four occupants of the stolen SUV were taken into custody, and the driver was charged with aggravated fleeing and receiving stolen property.
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