A pretrial hearing has been set for a woman accused of causing a small explosion after driving into gas pumps at the Speedway on New Mexico Highway 170.
Rebecca Talovich, 32, of Farmington will have a pretrial hearing at 8 a.m. April 23 in Magistrate Stacey Biel’s courtroom. Talovich was arraigned March 4 in Magistrate Court and entered a not guilty plea to a petty misdemeanor reckless driving charge, according to court records.
The charge stems from a Feb. 4 crash, in which Talovich is accused of driving her father’s GMC pickup at 5:55 p.m. at a high rate of speed and veering off the highway into the Speedway parking lot, where she reportedly hit two gas pumps, the awning and a nearby fence.
Speedway staff told the San Juan County Sheriff’s investigators that Talovich caused more than $300,000 in damage to the gas station, according to the crash report.
The report also stated that Deputy James Castillo plans to petition the New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles to take away Talovich’s license “due to the severity of the collision and her carelessness.”
Talovich reportedly suffered from seizures and told the deputy she had been off her medication for six months, but tried a new medicine “Keppra” the night of Feb. 3.
“She said she had stopped taking this because it made her feel different and she didn’t like it,” the crash report said.
She also told Castillo the last thing she remembered before the crash “was going to Walgreens on East Main in Farmington and (she) had stopped at the gas station across the road” before ending up on New Mexico 170, according to the crash report.
Talovich reportedly told Castillo “she didn’t know” what happened, but the citation states that Talovich told the deputy “she was driving towards Farmington to see her parents.” However, she was allegedly “seen actually headed northbound on 170 at a high rate of speed.”
The citation further states that Talovich reportedly showed no sign “to attempt to avoid the collision and (she) did not hit the brakes at any time,” leading to her crashing “into two gas pumps and later into a fence.”
Talovich signed the citation and acknowledged her court date.
A witness, Tyler Turner of Seattle, Washington, caught the entire incident on a dash camera video and posted it to social media, receiving views from the across the country. Getting out of the truck, Talovich “was struggling to walk” and “seemed to be in shock,” the report said.
Emergency medical services came and escorted Talovich to the hospital. Her injuries from the crash were mild, according to the report.
