Jury deliberates charges against former Albuquerque officer in deadly hit-and-run

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The fate of a former Albuquerque police officer is now in a jury’s hands after closing arguments in Krystal Garcia’s case. She was off duty and a passenger on the motorcycle of another former APD officer when they hit a man and took off.

Thursday, Garcia’s attorneys put her on the stand. She was their only witness before closing arguments. For three days, the jury heard testimony and were presented with the state’s evidence.

In court, Garcia said she didn’t even know the crash had happened until she received a news alert on her phone. But prosecutors argued that’s not true and pointed to her call logs and the fact that the motorcycle used was in Garcia’s garage.

In May 2025, Garcia said she was with Ezekiel Florez as he drove down Central Avenue on his motorcycle. Both were Albuquerque police officers and off duty at the time. As they drove, Florez hit a pedestrian and kept going. 

Surveillance video from the ART bus station nearby shows the entire crash on camera. In the corner you can see the victim, Daniel Trujillo.

Garcia is charged with knowingly leaving the scene of a crime and tampering with evidence. Florez pleaded guilty to those same charges in May and was sentenced to three in prison. Prosecutors dropped the vehicular homicide charge as part of the deal.

What did jurors hear?

Thursday, Garcia said she wasn’t aware the crash even happened, saying she heard a thump but didn’t feel one. She added that it wasn’t until she got a news alert about a crash where they recently drove that she thought something could have happened. Then she said she realized Florez put the bike in her garage without telling her.

“I just asked him. ‘So, what the f*** happened?’ He said, ‘I think I clipped the guy.’ And I, I would say, I lost it. I lost my mind. I was like, ‘What? What?’ I said, ‘What the f*** do you mean? You hit? You clip? You think you clip somebody?'” Garcia said in court.

She said she kept asking if he was sure and why he didn’t stop. Then she said she negotiated with him.

“I said, ‘Okay, I’ll take you back in my car.’ Leave the bike as to preserve the evidence because I knew he didn’t do anything to it, and I told him I’ll take you back in my car. He said no. And I was like, ‘What the f***, Florez? Come on, like we gotta go back,'” she said.

Garcia said officers took her home and she later opened the garage door, where the motorcycle was.

“The officers seen the bike and said, ‘Hold on. Is this bike? Is this the bike involved?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Let me make a phone call,’ and he said, ‘Just just wait.’ So we just stood there and waited.”

Prosecutors used that testimony to argue Garcia didn’t tell officers about the bike.

“They go back with the defendant to her home because…they have to obtain like her guns, her badge, her police vehicle. She can’t keep those items…the defendant never intended that they find that motorcycle. The defendant and Ezekiel were hiding that motorcycle,” Deputy District Attorney Guin Ice said.

The crash happened around 6:45 p.m. but Florez and Garcia didn’t arrive to the scene until around 11 p.m. In court, Garcia said she called an APD sergeant to see if the crash was them and then said she spent time convincing Florez to go back to the scene.

Her attorney argued she tried everything and anything to get him to go—saying that’s the only thing she had control over but added Florez allegedly only would if they went to another house first. 

Once they did that, Garcia said she realized she didn’t have her ID and had to go back home. But prosecutors argued that timing still doesn’t add up saying she could have called 911 at any point but called the officer instead.

“She was trying to find out information. Do they have a direction of travel? Meaning, do they know which way the motorcycle went after the crash? Are there cameras? Why would you ask that question if you didn’t already know what happened and weren’t trying to figure out if she was going to get caught in this crime, she knew exactly what happened,” Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Reyes said.

Thursday, jurors deliberated for about an hour and a half before breaking for the day. 

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