When a state police officer from Albuquerque, New Mexico spotted a driver flying down the interstate going 96 miles per hour, he immediately flipped on his siren and lights.
Not only was the car driving extremely fast compared to the speed limit, but it was also weaving in and out of traffic lanes.
Under different circumstances, one might expect that the speed demon was just an individual late for an appointment or someone really into racing.
However, Officer Toby Lafave suspected something else was up.
He had seen this sort of erratic behavior before, normally among extremely intoxicated individuals. The shocking dashcam footage of the traffic stop is something that you have to see for yourself to believe.
Sadly, when Officer Lafave pulled the car over, his worst suspicions were soon confirmed.
The car pulled over on the off-ramp and Officer Lafave went to investigate. The driver was a woman named Yvonne Ukestine, and it turns out, she had just come from a concert.
As he approached the vehicle, he also noticed something else extremely unsettling.
There was a young girl sitting in the front passenger seat next to Ukestine that wasn’t even wearing a seatbelt. It was a horrifying sight for Officer Lafave.
The officer told Ukestine that he had been behind her for a while watching and asked her what was going on.
Her response was something that really didn’t make a lot of sense — “I was scared,” she said. When Officer Lafave then asked about the little girl, Ukestine mentioned that it was her 6-year-old niece and that she was scared too. The officer completely understood.
“Yeah, I’m sure she is. I’d be afraid, especially the way you were driving. I’d be afraid, too,” said Officer Lafave.
He then proceeded to test her to determine her level of intoxication.
For starters, when he asked Ukestine to get out of the vehicle, she could barely comply. Then he asked her to stand on the beam of his flashlight and she said that she couldn’t. Several other tests proceeded in a similar fashion, and soon, it was determined that Ukestine was likely very drunk.
She even confirmed as much herself. When he asked why she was unable to complete the tests, she responded, “because I am intoxicated”.
The officer arrested her and put her in his car.
When he went back over to rescue the 6-year-old, he discovered something even more shocking though.
The trunk of the car was filled with strollers!
It was an emotional moment for Officer Lafave, and ultimately, he couldn’t hold in his tears.
The girl reached over to attempt to close the trunk, but the officer stopped her.
“Hey baby, I’ll get it, I’ll get it,” he said to the girl.
He then walked over to speak with another officer who had just arrived on the scene.
“That makes my head hurt,” Officer Lafave said to his coworker. “God, it breaks my heart.”
The men and women of law enforcement know better than anyone that drunk driving kills.
Officer Lafave understood just how quickly something bad could have happened if he hadn’t managed to get the woman pulled over. The drunk driver put not only her life at risk, but that of the 6-year-old girl, not to mention all of the other drivers out on the interstate that night. Things could have easily gone so much worse.
In the end, Ukestine was charged with driving while intoxicated and child abuse.
She agreed to a plea deal for the DWI and the child abuse charge was subsequently dropped. However, an update to the new story almost two years later shows that the second chance she was given didn’t work out so well.
She was put on the Pre-Prosecution Diversion program that allowed her to avoid ending up with a felony on her record. It’s a program that has very strict rules. When Ukestine failed multiple urine tests though, she was ultimately dismissed from the program. Now, she once again faces the two original charges that she was given.
Check out the video of the full news story and dashcam footage below.
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