Woman charged with fleeing police to be held for trial

Lindsi Zumwalt, charged with aggravated fleeing without causing injury or great bodily harm in Deming on Jan. 22, will remain in custody through her trial, 3^rd District Judge Conrad Perea ruled Friday morning.

Zumwalt was arrested following a pursuit by police during which she allegedly drove at high speeds through residential and commercial streets in Deming, ran past more than a dozen stop signs and finally entered Interstate 10 driving into oncoming traffic before police executed a PIT maneuver to stop her vehicle.

She was allegedly driving a “suspect vehicle” in an investigation of two bombs at Deming’s probation and parole office, one of which exploded. No one has been charged in connection with the bombs, but police said Zumwalt was the driver of a black Ford pickup truck with no visible license plate, seen in surveillance camera footage leaving a package at the office, according to police.

First responders near the scene of a bomb blast at the New Mexico Probation and Corrections building in Deming, N.M. on Jan. 22, 2024.

Luna County prosecutors petitioned for detention ahead of trial, pointing to prior felony convictions as well as a charge of violating her parole in one of those cases. Prosecutor Keythan Park argued that Zumwalt was a danger to the community and that no conditions of release could guarantee public safety. Her attorney, Thomas Guerra, argued that numerous references to the bombing were inflammatory since Zumwalt has not been charged for that. Perea based his decision on the flight from police and evidence of numerous violations of traffic laws and of the conditions of her probation, announcing quickly that he would grant the pretrial motion.

While Guerra was in the Las Cruces courtroom, Zumwalt listened in on the proceeding from the Luna County Detention Center, where she is in custody.

Although the charges are in Luna County, the state Supreme Court assigned the case to Perea after all of the judges in the 6^th Judicial District recused themselves or were unavailable, according to a Jan. 30 order.

While Zumwalt was named by prosecutors as the driver of the vehicle, there was no mention as to  whether a passenger was in the vehicle or she was alone.

Another Deming resident, Chloe Lucero, is being held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces on a federal charge of making interstate threats for allegedly threatening to bomb government buildings in emails addressed to the FBI days before the explosion in Deming. Lucero is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in federal district court Tuesday morning.