Canutillo woman dies from injuries weeks after her SUV crashed into a truck on I-10
UPDATE, July 26: A 72-year-old Canutillo woman has died weeks after a crash involving her SUV and a semi-truck along Interstate 10 at Transmountain.
El Paso police on Monday said Reyna Ley-Montes had died after being hospitalized since the July 5 wreck with severe head injuries. A 7-year-old child riding in her SUV during the crash survived.
UPDATE, July 6: Two people remained hospitalized, including a young child, a day following the second of two major crashes along Interstate 10 at Transmountain that shut down the highway.
Investigators wrote in a crash report released Tuesday that "72–year-old Reyna Ley-Montes was traveling on N. Desert Boulevard (in her SUV) when she swerved off the road, crossed the dirt median and entered the westbound lanes of the interstate" and then collided with a semi-truck.
Her SUV rolled over, while the truck jackknifed. What caused Ley-Montes to lose control of her vehicle was still under investigation.
Ley-Montes was being treated at University Medical Center for life-threatening head injuries, police said, while a 7–year-old boy in the SUV with her was also being treated at UMC for minor injuries.
The driver of the semi-truck wasn't hurt.
ORIGINAL REPORT, July 5: EL PASO, Texas -- A traffic crash involving an SUV rollover and a jackknifed 18-wheeler led to the closure of Interstate 10 westbound at Transmountain Road on Monday evening for over five hours.
El Paso police issued an alert about the closure along I-10 west at mile-marker 6 around 5 p.m.; motorists were still being diverted to N. Desert Boulevard as of 10 p.m.
While the eastbound interstate was still open, there were lane reductions causing a traffic backup.
Authorities said one crash victim was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries; police didn't indicate whether that injured person was in the semi-truck or the SUV.
Investigators were on scene throughout the night trying to determine what caused the crash.
It was the second crash to occur Monday on that stretch of highway. One person was killed in an early morning rollover on I-10 west between Artcraft and Transmountain.
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