GRAHAM – Early Sunday morning, around 4:00 AM, deputies were dispatched to State Route 366 due to the report of a motor vehicle accident that included two injured occupants. When authorities arrived, a pick up truck was found with a man and woman sitting on the side of the road. The man stated he believed his shoulder was broken and was in severe pain. Deputies noticed the man also had cuts on the right side of his face and was bleeding. The woman reported pain in her lower back.
When asked who was driving, the man reported he was driving the woman to her vehicle up the mountain and a coyote ran in front of the truck. The man stated he swerved to miss the animal and lost control on the wet roadway. At this time Lifeline Paramedics arrived. Meanwhile, authorities had located drug paraphernalia – a broken glass pipe with blood on it – approximately 3 feet away from the passenger side rear tire. When a deputy asked the woman about the item found, she reported that she didn’t know anything about it, and didn’t think it was either of theirs. The item was secured to conserve evidence as it began to start raining. Both the man and woman were transported to the Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center and the vehicle was towed from the scene.
Later at the hospital, authorities were notified by the attending physician that the accident had been caused by the woman assaulting the man. The man had to be placed unconscious to have his shoulder set into place. A deputy spoke with the woman at the hospital where she reported that while the couple was driving up the mountain, she had asked him for a cigarette and the next thing she knew, the vehicle pulled to the left and the man’s air bag deployed. The woman stated that she believed the vehicle flipped 4 times. However, authorities noted that the vehicle showed no signs of being in a roll over and there was no damage to the roof.
The man reportedly told deputies that he had ingested Crystal Meth, but that was not why he wrecked the vehicle. The man stated he and the woman had been fighting all day, and he was taking her to her broken down vehicle up the mountain. The man stated the woman was mad because he had another female friend at his house earlier and she punched him in the face about 5 times. He reportedly felt dazed and started seeing stars when he drove off the road and wrecked. The man did claim ownership of the drug paraphernalia found.
