New details on officer killed in crash Wednesday

ABC-7 has confirmed the El Paso police officer killed while escorting a funeral procession Wednesday afternoon was Adrian Arellano, a 10-year veteran of the force.

El Paso police said the woman accused of driving into his path is Maria Soto, and that she ignored direction from the other officer guiding the procession. A police spokesman said Soto was driving on Edgemere Boulevard and had the green light when approaching Yarbrough Drive, and when the other escort officer motioned for her to stop, Soto ignored him.

She could face charges depending on what the police investigation and the district attorney’s office determine.

Funeral services for Arellano are now being arranged.

ABC-7 spoke to Sheriff Richard Wiles today, nearly a decade after he alerted the public to what he says needs to be stopped.

This isn’t the first time officers have been injured during funeral processions in El Paso. Current sheriff and former chief of police Wiles tried to ban them entirely years ago because of the risk.

“You know, my brother was a police officer,” Wiles said. “And he was actually hurt doing funeral escorts.”

Wiles said one of the first things he did as sheriff was to ban deputies from doing officer escorts. But he had major difficulties in doing that back when he was chief of police in 2006.

Wiles said he had to back down due to pressure from funeral directors and officers wanting extra work. But he added that El Paso is a big city, with the traffic that goes with that.

While he can’t be sure if any policies or extra safety measures would have prevented Wednesday’s crash, Wiles said he thinks it would be worth reviewing.
“We could what-if it all day long,” Wiles said.. I just again think that this city’s too big to be engaging in this kind of activity. It’s just to dangerous. I did back then and I still think it is.”