EPPD explains why it takes so long to reopen freeway after deadly crashes

If there is a fatality on the freeway, police say it’s always going to take quite a while to reopen the lanes.

“It’s a crime scene, and potentially, it could be a homicide investigation,” El Paso Police Spokesman Enrique Carrillo said. “Regardless, we are still investigating the death of an individual and its gonna take time, it’s time-consuming, it’s a painstaking process.”

Thursday night, a pedestrian was struck by at least four vehicles, including a semi truck, near I-10 East and Porfirio Diaz. It took police nearly nine hours to reopen the freeway’s eastbound lanes in that area.

Last month, police closed I-10 East at Sunland Park for more than 16 hours while they investigated and cleared the scene of a fiery crash involving a semi truck. Two women were killed.

Carillo described Thursday night’s scene as “a very large scene.” He said police investigate with “great urgency,” but reopening the freeway “is not their number one priority.”

The priority, Carillo said, “is to conduct a thorough and accurate investigation.”

Police said their first step is to provide medical attention. They then block entrance ramps and Special Traffic Investigators are called to the scene. STI then creates a computer-aided diagram, which involves taking video, pictures and measurements of every vehicle, lane and skid mark.

Once the investigation is completed and the evidence checked, police reopen the freeway.

“We are not going to rush the process, to rush it is asking for errors and we’re not going to do that,” Carillo said, “We have to get it right, we get one shot to get it right and they’re going to do that.”

Carillo clarified it is not department policy to wait until dawn to reopen the freeway while investigating a deadly crash that happened late at night. Some investigations are completed in darkness, Carillo said.