Police identify motel guest killed in Friday’s semi crash

Police say Derreset Brown, 51, is the motel guest killed when the driver of a tractor-trailer crashed into a Studio 6 Friday morning.

The semi, which was hauling steel railroad tracks on flat bed, barreled into a room at the hotel at 6185 South Desert near Interstate 10 at Artcraft Road.

Brown lived in Conley, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, according to El Paso police.

Police said the driver, John Zerba of San Angelo, Texas, was rushed to Las Palmas Medical Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Police said Zerba was heading east on I-10 when he veered off the highway about 9:30 a.m. Friday. The truck crossed parking lot of a funeral homes, crashed through a short rock wall and slammed into the motel. Police are still trying to figure out what caused Zerba to drive off the freeway.

ABC-7 confirmed the man killed worked for a company called TowerComm out of Raleigh, N.C. TowerComm confirmed it had a crew staying at the Studio 6.

TowerComm installs and services wireless towers like those for cell phones.