Driver dies after fleeing traffic stop, crashing on I-25 in Albuquerque

A 23-year-old man died after fleeing a traffic stop and crashing on Interstate 25 in Albuquerque, a wreck that New Mexico State Police said happened late Thursday night. ABQ Raw identified the driver as Monty Maes and reported that he was ejected from the vehicle, taken to an area hospital and later died from his injuries.

New Mexico State Police responded to the crash July 19. The collision happened on I-25 in Albuquerque, one of Bernalillo County’s most important traffic corridors, where a single high-speed mistake can quickly put other drivers, emergency crews and anyone nearby at risk.

The incident also puts a spotlight on the decisions that come before the crash. New Mexico’s Safe Pursuit Act requires written pursuit policies and 16 hours of safe-pursuit training in the basic academy, and state law limits how many law enforcement vehicles can actively join a high-speed pursuit unless a supervisor authorizes more. Albuquerque police policy describes vehicle pursuits as high-risk activity that is inherently dangerous to officers, motorists, the fleeing suspect and passengers.

Those rules matter because fleeing-stop crashes are not just isolated wrecks. They are the kind of events that can turn a routine traffic stop into a fatal scene in seconds, especially on a highway like I-25 where speed and lane changes leave little margin for error. For Bernalillo County, the hard question is how often those pursuit-related crashes happen and whether agencies are using the tools already built into policy to keep them from escalating.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Traffic Records Section collects crash reports on public roadways for annual statistics, and Albuquerque police post annual traffic unit statistics as well. Those records are the baseline for tracking injury and fatal crashes tied to fleeing drivers, and for measuring whether training, supervision and stricter pursuit limits are reducing the toll on local roads.