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Witness: Hitchhiker stole police car

Witness: Hitchhiker stole police car

WINDOW ROCK

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero An unidentified man, who allegedly stole a Navajo police vehicle, is taken away on a gurney for unknown injuries. It's not known how the man took the vehicle. The accident is being investigated.

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
An unidentified man, who allegedly stole a Navajo police vehicle, is taken away on a gurney for unknown injuries. It’s not known how the man took the vehicle. The accident is being investigated.

A Navajo Nation police car was stolen by a hitchhiker last Wednesday, a witness said.

Police declined to comment on the incident.

Michelle Smiley said she and her husband Marwin Smiley, both from Navajo, New Mexico, saw the incident on Navajo Route 12, in Goat Springs, Arizona, which is south of Fort Defiance, a little after 5 p.m.

Smiley said they were driving to Window Rock to take care of some business when they came upon what appeared to be an accident.

“Traffic slowed down and we saw an accident,” said Smiley.

“There was an SUV, a tow truck and the police car parked off the shoulder of the highway.” The police vehicle had its driver-side door open, according to Smiley.

Around the same time, Smiley said, they saw two hitchhikers walking on the opposite side of the highway, headed towards Fort Defiance.

Smiley said that as they got closer, they noticed one of the hitchhikers crossing the highway towards the scene of the accident. Smiley said they didn’t think anything of it until the man suddenly jumped into the police car, quickly backed it up and swerved into oncoming traffic, making a U-turn and nearly running over the other hitchhiker he was walking with.

The driver then picked up his companion and began racing towards Fort Defiance, she recalled. “I was in total shock … At first I thought it was the cop, then it clicked in my head that it was not,” Smiley recalled. “It happened so quickly. When we passed him he was already driving towards Fort. When he stole the vehicle, the (emergency) lights were still on.”


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About The Author

Donovan Quintero

"Dii, Diné bi Naaltsoos wolyéhíígíí, ninaaltsoos át'é. Nihi cheii dóó nihi másání ádaaní: Nihi Diné Bizaad bił ninhi't'eelyá áádóó t'áá háadida nihizaad nihił ch'aawóle'lágo. Nihi bee haz'áanii at'é, nihisin at'é, nihi hózhǫ́ǫ́jí at'é, nihi 'ach'ą́ą́h naagééh at'é. Dilkǫǫho saad bee yájíłti', k'ídahoneezláo saad bee yájíłti', ą́ą́ chánahgo saad bee yájíłti', diits'a'go saad bee yájíłti', nabik'íyájíłti' baa yájíłti', bich'į' yájíłti', hach'į' yándaałti', diné k'ehgo bik'izhdiitįįh. This is the belief I do my best to follow when I am writing Diné-related stories and photographing our events, games and news. Ahxéhee', shik'éí dóó shidine'é." - Donovan Quintero, an award-winning Diné journalist, served as a photographer, reporter and as assistant editor of the Navajo Times until March 17, 2023.

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