Man charged in connection with Aug. 12 crash that killed two people in Upper Fruitland

Mike Easterling, Farmington Daily Times
·2 min read

A Navajo man was charged with involuntary manslaughter in federal court in connection with an automobile crash last week that claimed the lives of two victims.

Leonardo Robbie Duncan, 32, was taken into custody on Aug. 12 after surrendering to the Navajo Police Department several hours after a head-on collision between two vehicles at 6:45 a.m. in Upper Fruitland.

While enroute to the scene, New Mexico State Police officers passed a male walking westbound approximately a half mile from the crash, according to a criminal complaint.

When they arrived at the site of the crash, officers found an off-duty Southern Ute tribal officials administering aid to the victims, a criminal complaint stated. After the tribal officer told the State Police officers the driver of the other vehicle had left the scene on foot, State Police officers doubled back in an attempt to find him, but were unsuccessful.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, one crash victim died at the scene while the other died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital. Their names were not released to the media.

At approximately 12:30 p.m. that day, Duncan’s father escorted him to a Navajo Police Department station to turn himself in, according to a criminal complaint against Duncan.

Officers administered a breath alcohol content test, and Duncan allegedly was found to have registered .08 on the test.

Duncan remained in custody Aug. 17 while awaiting trial. He faces up to eight years in prison.

Duncan pleaded guilty to a 2014 criminal trespass charge in Albuquerque in 2016, but his sentence was deferred and eventually dismissed.

The case was investigated by New Mexico State Police, the Navajo Police Department and the Farmington resident agency of the FBI.

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This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Navajo man charged with involuntary manslaughter after fatal crash