1 El Pasoan dead, 3 hurt in head-on crash near Border Patrol checkpoint in Hudspeth County

HUDSPETH COUNTY, Texas — An El Paso motorist died and several others were seriously injured in a head-on highway crash Thursday morning just east of a Border Patrol checkpoint.

That crash, involving a pickup truck towing a trailer and a car, occurred along U.S. Highway 62/180 near milepost 54 just after 9 a.m.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the car was headed westbound and the pickup was going eastbound when the two vehicles collided head-on. But exactly why that happened was still under investigation.

The car's driver was killed instantly, state troopers said, while the three people in the pickup were all injured and taken to El Paso hospitals; one was flown by helicopter to University Medical Center while the other two went by ambulances to Del Sol Medical Center.

Troopers identified the man killed as 19-year-old Pedro Thomas Gutierrez of El Paso. The three injured were also from El Paso and identified as 48-year-old Javier Eduardo Terrones, 35-year-old Jose L. Renteria, and 18-year-old Javier Eduardo Terrones Jr.

U.S. Highway 62/180 was closed for much of the day as authorities investigated that crash.