2 dead, 9 injured in SUV rollover crash in Santa Teresa, NM

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
·2 min read

Two people died in a rollover crash involving an SUV carrying several people Wednesday morning in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived at the scene of the single vehicle rollover accident at 4:45 a.m. at the intersection of McNutt Road and Airport Road near Santa Teresa High School.

Two people were killed and nine others were injured and taken to hospitals in El Paso, according to the New Mexico State Police, the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office and the Sunland Park Fire Department.

The Sunland Park Fire Department said that there were two fatalities at the scene. One person in critical condition was flown by helicopter to University Medical Center of El Paso. Another critically injured person was taken by ambulance to UMC and seven others were taken by ambulances to area hospitals with nonlife-threatening injuries.

The names of the injured and dead have not been released.

The Mexican Consulate in El Paso said in a statement that nine of the people injured are Mexican citizens. The consulate stated that the SUV was carrying 12 people, including the driver and a co-driver. The consulate is working on contacting the families of the people hurt in the crash.

A statement issued by the Border Patrol does not say if the vehicle was suspected in a human smuggling attempt or if it was being pursued or being followed by border agents.

A Border Patrol spokeswoman declined to say whether a Border Patrol vehicle was involved and referred inquiries to New Mexico State Police, the lead investigative agency.

However, according to Sunland Park Fire Chief Daniel Medrano, the Border Patrol attempted to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle continued at full speed until losing control on McNutt Road. The other occupants of the SUV were transported to hospitals with nonlife-threatening injuries.

The crash occurred in an area along the U.S.-Mexico border west of El Paso that's a human smuggling hot spot. The Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies have been dealing with an uptick in vehicular human smuggling interdictions in the area.

Freelance photographer Luis Torres and El Paso Times staff writer Lauren Villagran contributed to this report.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 915-546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 2 dead, 9 injured in SUV rollover crash in Santa Teresa, NM