AG's son arrested in DWI incident
Denetsosie was riding in vehicle stopped by police

Independent Staff

GALLUP — A Window Rock, Ariz., attorney and the son of the Navajo Nation attorney general was arrested Tuesday morning on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer.

Fort Defiance resident Warren Denetsosie, 37, was booked into the McKinley County Adult Detention Center at about 1:45 a.m. after he allegedly "shouted profanities" at sheriff's Deputy Owen Pena during a traffic stop along New Mexico Highway 118 at Bradley Street in Gallup.

Denetsosie was a passenger in a 2007 Toyota sports utility vehicle that's driver, whose name has not been released, was arrested on the suspicion of drunken driving by the New Mexico State Police. McKinley County Sheriff's Department assisted with the incident. Denetsosie reportedly began to resist officers when they tried to transport him to NCI because of his alleged level of intoxication.

"I then had Mr. Denetsosie exit the vehicle and at which time he started to become aggressive and disorderly toward Officer Toledo and me. Mr. Denetsosie appeared to be under the influence of intoxicating liquor and admitted to consuming alcohol liquor tonight," Pena wrote in a police report filed about the incident. " Mr. Denetsosie continuously told us that he was a lawyer for the Navajo Nation and continued to shout profanities at me, which was in public."

Denetsosie practices law in Window Rock and specializes in Native American law, utility law and family law, according to his firm's Web site. He is licensed in Arizona and the Navajo Nation. His father, Louis Denetsosie, is the Navajo Nation attorney general and previously practiced law with Warren Denetsosie at his private law firm.

Sgt. A. Benally, of the sheriff's department, said it is common practice for officers to transport intoxicated passengers to NCI as opposed to calling family members to transport their relatives home.

"It is better to get them sobered up in a safe place where we know they'll be cared for," Benally said. " So for their safety, we take them to NCI."

Warren Denetsosie did not immediately return a request for comment from The Independent as of 8 a.m. today.

Denetsosie will face charges in local Magistrate Court.