By Rozanna M. Martinez
The Albuquerque Journal
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Rio Rancho’s fire chief has recently encountered some bumps in the road while driving a city vehicle.
Chief James Tobin was involved in a hit-andrun crash near the Albuquerque International Sunport in January, and he was also involved in a crash last month on Sara Road in Rio Rancho.
The January crash caused little damage to his city vehicle, Tobin said, and the other driver took off before police could arrive.
He received a careless driving citation in the March crash.
Tobin did not undergo drug and alcohol testing related to his January accident, but he did submit to testing for his March accident.
An employee driving a city vehicle or a personal vehicle while on city business who is involved in an accident must immediately report the incident to his or her supervisor and to the Human Resources Department to arrange for immediate alcohol/drug testing, according to an e-mail from the city.
The results of the March test are a personnel matter, according to the e-mail.
City Manager James Jimenez has addressed the situation with Tobin, according to the e-mail.
Tobin said he should have submitted to an alcohol/drug test after the Jan. 18 incident but didn’t because it did little damage to the vehicle.
In that incident, Tobin told Albuquerque Aviation Police that another vehicle cut in front of him, striking his vehicle, as he drove west on Sunport toward Yale Boulevard, according to a police report. The other driver left the scene, but Tobin provided police with a license plate number. It was later found that the registered owner was deceased.
On March 8, Tobin was involved in a crash after making a U-turn on Sara Road while trying to respond to a emergency call for service. Tobin’s 10-year-old daughter was in the vehicle.
Tobin told police he pulled to the side of the road to make a U-turn, and as he proceeded, another vehicle passed at a high rate of speed and struck his vehicle.
The other driver told police that he “cautiously” went around Tobin’s vehicle and as he did, Tobin made a U-turn, striking his vehicle.
A 5-year-old girl in that vehicle struck her head on a window during the crash, and a piece of broken window glass landed in her mouth, according to the report. But her father refused transport to a hospital, according to Rio Rancho Fire Rescue.
The man said Tobin did not have emergency lights displayed while making the U-turn. Tobin denied that claim.
The man said Tobin immediately checked on him and the girl and apologized for the crash, according to the police report.
Firefighters swept evidence from the roadway before police arrived, and the vehicles involved in the crash had pulled over to the side of the road, according to the police report. Standard protocol for any crash involving department vehicles is to wait for Traffic Division officers to respond before removing vehicles or sweeping evidence from the roadway, according to the police report.
But Rio Rancho Fire Rescue spokesman Paul Bearce said it is common procedure for firefighters to clean up fluids and remove debris from the roadway because it presents a hazard to other drivers.
Tobin called the latest crash “unfortunate.”
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal