Family leaves New Mexico after violent traffic incident

RIO RANCHO, NM – A Rio Rancho family is saying goodbye to New Mexico after a woman was hospitalized for a driving aggression incident.

KOB 4 met with the family and learned that the U.S. Air Force stepped in to ensure their safety when our state's justice system failed them.

“New Mexico is a beautiful place with so much potential, and if we can just get our justice system and crime under control, it could honestly be one of the greatest states,” said Katrina Mitchell.

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

“I had just gotten over my PTSD from military service, and my first thought was that I had to do it all over again,” Katrina said.

Katrina was driving along Unser last April when, according to her, an incident occurred between a Mustang and a Subaru and things got heated.

“The passenger stuck his head out and started giving me the middle finger too, and I was like, 'Is that me?'” Katrina said.

The boiling point was when they all stopped at a red light.

“She gets out of her car. I just thought, 'Oh no,' because my daughter and my mother are sitting there. And so I was able to get out of the way,” Katrina said.

At that moment, the teenage driver in the Mustang approaches her and, according to police documents, hits Katrina's car.

According to police, Katrina got out and hit him, which led to the fight.

“At that moment, all I felt was that I had been hit in the head. It felt like I couldn't move my hands,” Katrina said.

She says the beating only stopped when a passerby pulled out his concealed weapon, allowing Katrina to escape to a nearby hospital.

“I had a concussion. I couldn't open both eyes, they were practically swollen shut,” Katrina said.

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

The juvenile court found the teenager guilty. Katrina took a plea deal, but no one was sent to jail.

“Everyone was downgraded from felonies to misdemeanors, nothing more than probation,” Gregory said. “They also wanted us to have some sort of reconciliation conversation where we sit around a table and talk about our differences and apologize to each other. And hey, you know, sorry about the neighbor, sorry about the neighbor. And no, that was an option that was out of the question in my eyes because what was done was unforgivable.”

This is where the US Air Force intervened.

“The extent of the failure of the justice system here is why the Air Force decided it was in their best interest to move us,” Gregory said.

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

“We have these physical and emotional scars and nothing. Nothing has happened to them. They are just living their lives,” Gregory said.

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