Driver arrested on a cocaine charge after a McDonald's parking-lot crash

Gallup police arrested a driver on a controlled-substance charge late Monday after responding to a reported collision in the McDonald's parking lot at 2300 E. Highway 66.

Callers reported at about 9:38 p.m. on Aug. 31 that a vehicle in the lot appeared to have struck an object and that its front end was heavily damaged. Officer Gemme contacted the driver, whom police identified as Rochelle Yazzie, 36.

During the investigation the officer saw a small plastic baggie holding a white powdery substance on the floorboard. With Yazzie's consent he examined it and ran a field test, which presumptively indicated cocaine. The substance weighed 1.9 grams. Field tests are presumptive; they are not a laboratory result.

Yazzie told the officer she had bought the powder from a retail supplement store and used it in her drinks under a different name. Based on the field test, the officer arrested her for possession of a controlled substance.