Police Identify 2nd Victim In Deadly Crash

Police have identified the passenger of an SUV who was killed along with the driver in an early-morning crash Thursday on the 3400 block of Paisano Drive near the Race Track Drive exit.

Manuel Contreras, of Las Vegas, Nev., was the passenger in a GMC Envoy being driven by 42-year-old Karina Torres-De Ruiz, who lives in El Paso. Both died at the scene, police said

Investigators said Torres-DeRuiz was driving west on Paisano Drive about 2:50 a.m. when she passed an escort vehicle stopped in the left lane behind a road grader that was also stopped. When Torres-DeRuiz veered back into the left lane, she struck the back of the John Deere road grader, which was being operated by Javier Rincon.

Rincon, who lives in Deming, and other passengers in the work convoy were not injured.

The westbound lanes of Paisano between Executive Center Boulevard and Sunland Park Drive were closed until 9 a.m. Thursday, as police investigated the crash.

These are the city’s 51st and 52nd traffic-related deaths in 2011, compared with 51 at the same time last year.

A story published Thursday on KVIA.com incorrectly stated that Contreras was from Deming.