Police: Speeding and ‘unsafe passing’ to blame for pedestrian death at McCombs & Stan Roberts

A Mexican national was killed in a traffic collission Wednesday morning in Northeast El Paso.

The wreck was reported at 6:38 am on the 13000 block of McCombs, police said.

Police officials said an investigation revealed 47-year-old Maria Aguirre, a resident of Chaparral, New Mexico, was driving a 2003 GMC Envoy SUV north on McCombs “at a high rate of speed.”

Police said a 2016 Nissan Versa was “illegally parked” on the west shoulder facing north at the intersection of McCombs and Stan Roberts. 61-year-old Irma Consuelo Melendez Mendoza, a Mexican national, was “standing behind the Nissan,” police said.

The driver of the GMC “attempted to pass another vehicle on the wet roadway and lost control of the vehicle. The GMC then struck the Nissan, which then collided with Melendez Mendoza,” police said.

Melendez Mendoza was transported to University Medical Center where she died. Investigators determined speeding and “unsafe passing” contributed to the crash.

Police have not said whether Aguirre will be charged. This was the 51st traffic-related death of the year in El Paso, police said.