Overnight Crash Kills Fort Bliss Soldier Near Airport

EL PASO — Fort Bliss officials have identified the soldier who died in a collision near the base as PFC Phillip M. Harris.

Police investigators say Harris was dead at the scene of the accident when units arrived.They saidhe lost control of the vehicle he was driving near Fort Bliss and crashed into a rock wall underpass support.

Officials said the 18-year-old Fort Bliss soldier was allegedly speeding on Airway near the airport around 3:30 a.m.A passenger riding in the brown Nissan Altima was taken to R.E. Thomason Hospital in stable condition.

El Paso Police Spokesman Darrel Petry said it was these types of crashesinvestigators were working to minimize in El Paso.

“Traffic fatalities[are] one of the things that we truly want to see decrease in the city of El Paso. Last year, we had a large number of traffic fatalities,” Petry said.

Authorities had several streets blocked off and traffic redirected until about 9:30 a.m. Saturday.