State Officer Toby Lafave has made more than 100 arrests of people who were “Driving While Intoxicated” – also known as DWI.
The night he arrested Yvonne Ukestine may have been one of the most memorable.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Officer Lafave was doing his usual rounds, driving down Interstate 40 when he spotted a gold Cadillac swerving on the freeway going a speed of 96 miles per hour.
This alerted him instantly, leading him to pull the driver over on the Unser off-ramp. When he went over near the driver’s seat, he saw a little girl about six years old sitting on the passenger’s seat with her belt unbuckled.
That was already a major violation so he asked what the driver was thinking driving like that.
“I was scared,” Yvonne, the driver, answered.
Yvonne could not even stand straight as the officer talked to her.
The officer did not seem too convinced. The signs of an intoxicated driver were present based on his initial observation of the woman, so he asked further questions to prove his suspicion.
State Officer Lafave asked why Yvonne was scared, to which the woman answered that she was afraid of the freeway. The officer asked the driver to walk out of her car, something which she obviously had trouble doing.
Yvonne tried to cut him off while he was interrogating her, but Officer Lafave knew what she was trying to do. That was when he told her that he had been behind her car for a while and saw what was happening on the freeway.
Left without any choice, Yvonne finally admitted that she had just come from a concert.
She could barely stand straight as she talked to Officer Lafave, clearly intoxicated. As they conversed, Yvonne remembered her young niece on the passenger’s seat and told the state officer that she was worried about the little girl.
“I think she’s scared,” Yvonne said in the video clip captured by the police car’s camera.
“Yeah, I’m sure she is. I’d be afraid, especially the way you were driving. I’d be afraid, too,” Officer Lafave snapped back.
The state officer then proceeded with conducting a series of tests to gauge Yvonne’s condition and to finally confirm if she was intoxicated. She failed the tests as she was evidently under the influence of alcohol. She could not even walk in a straight line.
At this point, Officer Lafave immediately called on to his unit and reported the situation.
He took custody of Yvonne and checked on the little girl.
He was calling on the phone for someone to pick up the girl when she approached him as he opened the truck to get strollers. It was at this moment that Officer Lafave could not help but choke up and tried to fight tears from falling.
As he walked back to the car and to another officer, the cop could not stop himself from blurting:
“That makes my heart hurt. God, it breaks my heart.”
Officer Lafave was deeply moved because he felt bad for the little girl. Who knows what could have happened if he didn’t step in?
Unfortunately, this kind of situation will not be the last – but we thank Officer Lafave for keeping his community safe.
Know more about this incredible story by watching the video below.
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