Navajo Man Struck Woman with Car in Brutal Shiprock Assault

Terrell Ray Antonio, 41, a Navajo Nation member from Shiprock, N.M., was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for running down a woman with his car after a violent dispute. The attack, which left the victim with life-threatening injuries, occurred on January 17, 2016, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County.

Antonio struck the woman—minutes after she exited his vehicle and began walking away—plowing into her with his car during a heated argument. The impact fractured her hip, broke her right upper arm, and caused severe head trauma. Due to the severity of her injuries, she was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment.

Arrested on January 22, 2016, Antonio faced a criminal complaint charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury. A federal grand jury formally indicted him on February 24, 2016, adding a second count: assault with a dangerous weapon, with the vehicle classified as the weapon used in the attack.

On July 22, 2016, Antonio pleaded guilty to the first count of the indictment—assault resulting in serious bodily injury. During his plea, he admitted to striking the woman with his vehicle and acknowledged that she suffered grave physical harm as a direct result of his actions.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Farmington office and the Shiprock unit of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Niki Tapia-Brito under the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project, a Justice Department initiative aimed at strengthening prosecutions of violent crimes against Native American women.

The Tribal SAUSA program, funded by the Office on Violence Against Women and administered through the Pueblo of Laguna, trains tribal prosecutors in federal law and investigative tactics. Born from years of tribal consultation, it represents a federal push to improve public safety coordination in Indigenous communities—where cases like Antonio’s too often go under-prosecuted.

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