Family Leaves New Mexico After Violent Road Rage Incident

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — A Rio Rancho family is saying goodbye to New Mexico after a road rage incident sent a woman to the hospital.

KOB 4 sat down with the family and learned that when our state’s justice system failed them, the U.S. Air Force stepped in to keep them safe.

“New Mexico is a beautiful place with a lot of potential, and if we could just improve the justice system and the crime that we have, it could be one of the greatest states, honestly,” Katrina Mitchell said.

Katrina and Gregory Mitchell pack up their Rio Rancho home much earlier than expected.

“I just recovered from military-related PTSD not too long ago, and my first thought was that I had to start all over again,” Katrina said.

Katrina was driving on Unser last April when she says there was a merging incident between a Mustang and a Subaru, and things got ugly.

“The passenger had stuck his head out and started giving me the finger, and I thought, ‘Is that me?'” Katrina said.

The situation came to a head when they all stopped at a red light.

“She started to get out of her car. I was like, ‘Oh no,’ because my daughter and my mom were in there. So I was able to swerve,” Katrina said.

That’s when the teenager driving the Mustang approached and, according to police documents, hit Katrina’s car.

Police say Katrina came out and punched him, and that’s when the fight broke out.

“At that point, all I felt was like I was hit in the head. I felt like I couldn’t move my hands,” Katrina said.

She said the beatings only stopped after a passerby pulled out his concealed weapon, allowing Katrina to escape to a nearby hospital.

“I had a concussion. I couldn’t open both my eyes, they were almost completely swollen,” Katrina said.

Rio Rancho police eventually filed charges against Katrina, Krystal Baca and the young driver.

The teenager was convicted in juvenile court. Katrina agreed to a plea deal, but no one was sentenced to prison.

“Everybody was demoted from misdemeanor to misdemeanor, nothing more than probation,” Gregory said. “They also wanted us to have, I can’t remember, some kind of reconciliation, where we sit down at a table and talk about our differences, and hey, apologize to each other. And hey, you know, sorry to that neighbor, sorry to that neighbor. And no, that was an option that was not an option in my eyes, because what was done was unforgivable.”

That’s where the US Air Force stepped in.

“The degree to which the justice system here has failed spectacularly is why, you know, the Air Force decided it was in their best interest to transfer us,” Gregory said.

Gregory says the Air Force is relocating his family to California as part of an endangered person mission, giving their family a fresh start and a chance to heal their wounds.

“We’re left with these physical and emotional scars and nothing. Nothing happened to them. They’re just living their lives,” Gregory said.

“I always thought that if you do the right thing, pray throughout your life and just be a good person, nothing bad will happen to you. But I think that was just naive,” Katrina said.