Family Mourns 2 Men Killed In Las Cruces Wreck

It was the kind of wreck witnesses just couldn’t look away from.

“Horrendous. The truck was upside down and it was all scrunched,” said one woman who lives feet away from the scene of the crash.

A truck rammed into a rock wall outside the Dove Canyon trailer park Saturday a little before noon. It happened off Main Stareet near Watson Lane.

Police say three men were inside. New Mexico State Police Sgt. James Frietze identified the driver as Derrick Lopez. Lopez and the front seat passenger, Benjamin Baca, died after the crash. Police said the backseat passenger, identified as Arturo Diaz, survived the wreck and was airlifted to an El Paso hospital. His condition hasn’t been released.

ABC-7 spoke with the victims’s cousin, Janette Lopez. “We’re all hurting right now,” she said. “Derrick had two kids and so did Benjamin.” She said the deaths are especially devastating for her family because their grandfather just died this weekend. “We can’t believe it. At first we were all telling each other, ‘Wow our grandpa’s gone…’ and now this.”

Police said a separate incident led up to the deadly rock wall wreck. According to officials, the truck rear-ended a Jeep at the traffic light on Conway. After hitting that Jeep, the driver of the truck allegedly tried getting away by making a u-turn. As he fled the scene, the driver of the Jeep started following the truck. That’s when witnesses said the truck started driving erratically, eventually losing control and hitting the wall.

“We can’t believe it,” said Lopez. “We all wish it was just a dream.”

State police told ABC-7 that investigators smelled alcohol when they opened what was left of the truck.