Motorist drives into local hair salon; owner grateful for help

BELEN—Business owner and local hair stylist Ronnie Torres was just about to go to bed Saturday night when he received a phone call that he never expected to answer — someone just drove into his hair salon.

Torres’ neighbor had called him sometime after 9 p.m. Saturday, telling him someone had just drove into his salon, Hair Innovations, on the corner of Main and Gilbert streets in Belen.

“Our alarm system went off at about 9 p.m., and I got a call that someone had wrecked into the shop,” Torres said. “All our power went out so the (security) cameras weren’t even able to catch anything; it didn’t have enough time to download it (before the power went out).”

When Torres drove down to the shop, he was in shock when he saw what had happened.

“When I got there, I saw the entire car inside the salon — the main part of the salon that was the original shop,” he said. “(The driver) must of been going at a huge rate of speed. (She) went across the parking lot next door, hit a couple of things like shrubs, and then hit the shop.”

Torres, who is a former Belen mayor and city councilor, speculates that if the driver had hit the shop a little more west than what he did, they would have gone in one end and out the other.

As of Monday, Torres didn’t know who the driver and passenger were. While he didn’t talk to them, Torres said a woman was transported to the hospital and saw a man was limping.

Belen Police Detective Sgt. Joe Rodriguez said a 42-year-old Bosque woman was driving a 2018 Chevy SUV, while her 43-year-old husband was the passenger.

Rodriguez said witnesses initially told patrol officers at the scene they saw the vehicle speeding southbound on Main Street. The witness also told the officers the man was driving and the woman got out of the vehicle and he followed her out of the building.

The detective said witnesses also told the officers that the man smelled like alcohol. When the officers made contact with the man, Rodriguez said the officers didn’t smell alcohol or notice signs that he was intoxicated.

“When our officers spoke with the man, he said the female was driving,” Rodriguez said. “She disclosed to officers and EMS that she was driving and that one of the tires had blown out and that’s what caused the accident.”

Rodriguez said the woman was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

When questioned by officers, the woman told them she was driving south when her tire “popped,” and instead of pushing the brake, she accidentally pushed on the accelerator, the detective said.

“There was no proof she was speeding, no proof of how fast she was going,” Rodriguez said. “We can verify the tire did pop and we saw where the tire hit the curb. When we took the vehicle out of the building, we could see the damage to the front right tire.”

While the woman was transported to UNM-Hospital in Albuquerque for minor injuries, her husband was taken home by his daughter, Rodriguez said.

“The investigation is still ongoing,” the detective said.

Torres, who with his ex-wife, Barbara, bought the building 39 years ago, said while he’s not a structural engineer, he believes the entire building is compromised.

“I was in complete shock,” Torres said when he saw what had happened to the business he’s been operating for nearly four decades. “I didn’t expect it to be that bad.

“It hit the main part of the building and you can see the cracks all the way through it,” he said. “I’ve already contacted my insurance company and they’re talking to the (driver’s) insurance company.”

As Torres stood there Saturday night looking at the destroyed business he’s built over the years, he wondered what he and his seven other stylists and nail tech were going to do. Where would they work? What about their clients?

One local hair salon owner had offered her shop to Torres and his crew, but it’s too small for the amount of stylists. Knowing there was only one stylist working at Alicia’s Hair Design on the corner of Reinken Avenue and Sixth Street, Torres call the owner, Kathleen Saiz.

“I told her what happened and asked if she would be willing to rent some stations, and she said she would rent us the whole building,” Torres said.

Saiz is the daughter of the late Barbara Aragon, who died in November 2024. She was the owner of Alicia’s for many years. In fact, Torres started his career in that same building 40 years ago when it was Billie’s Fashions.

“It was nine stations — exactly what we needed,” he said. “Kathleen wanted some activity back in the building, and she came in Sunday and helped us clean up and did some repairs.

“There was no other place in town with the space that we needed. I called my girls and told them to go into the shop — carefully — and pick up what you can and go to Alicia’s.”

All day Sunday, Torres, his stylists and their families worked to get their new space ready for clients. They opened at 9 a.m. Monday.

Torres isn’t sure how long they will be in their new space, but is grateful for Saiz and the community who has offered their help.

“It was a busy, hectic day, but all of my stylists were there and we all worked together and we got it done,” he said. “There were tears that were shed but we are all grateful that we’re OK.”

Torres is very grateful that the incident happened at night, when the salon is closed.

“If we had been open and had clients there, they could have easily killed seven or eight people,” he said. “My station is gone — it’s just gone. I would have been gone, my customer in the chair and anyone sitting in the waiting room would be gone. We are so, so lucky it was at night time and we were closed.”

While the stylists at Hair Innovations were able to recover some essential tools, a lot of it was damaged or destroyed. Torres said that night, a firefighter handed him some clippers that were found on top of the vehicle. Many of the stylists’ items, such as scissors and curling irons, will be hard to replace because of the expense.

Torres is very grateful for the community and their willingness to help in their time of need. His phone was ringing nonstop on Sunday. He was answering calls from people offering any assistance they needed.

Torres said he especially appreciative of Michael Vallejos, owner of HDI, showed up Saturday night, offering to help board up the building. Torres used the material from the old Snow Queen float he had stored to nail it to the front of the building.

The plan is to rebuild as soon as the insurance company gives him the go-ahead. He’s not sure when that will be, but is hopeful it will be sooner than later.

Hair Innovations is now located at 513 W. Reinken Ave., Belen. Walk-ins are always welcome, or book an appointment by calling 505-864-4337.