Five Car Pileup Kills Las Cruces Woman on US 70
Written by Officer Ray Wilson 03/28/2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2019
Dona Ana County, NM - On March 27, 2019 at about 8:00 p.m. the New Mexico State Police investigated a fatal five car pileup on westbound U.S. Highway 70 at about mile post 158 northeast of Las Cruces.
The initial investigation indicated a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am, driven by a 16-year-old female from Las Cruces was traveling west on U.S. 70. For reasons still under investigation, the Grand Am crashed and was blocking the left lane of the two lane west bound road. Lorenza Nunez (51) of Las Cruces, driving a 2007 Chrysler SUV stopped at the crash scene to render assistance and warn oncoming traffic of the crash. The area was very dark and the Grand Am had no lights on as it blocked the left lane.
Moments later in a chain reaction pile up, a 2012 Jeep crashed into the stopped vehicles, followed by a Nissan Maxima and finally a 1991 Dodge Dually pulling a horse trailer. During the subsequent crash Ms. Nunez, who was standing outside her vehicle, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Office of the Medical Investigator.
The three occupants in the Grand Am, the driver of the Jeep, as well as the driver and three passengers in the Dodge were all uninjured. The driver and passenger in the Nissan Maxima and an additional passenger from the Dodge were transported for injuries not believed to be life threatening. The horse in the trailer was uninjured.
The sixteen-year-old driver of the Grand AM was charged with Driving While Under the Influence of an intoxicating drug and careless driving. The dark road and no lighting are believed to have been contributing factors in the crash and seatbelts were properly utilized by everyone except the passenger in the Nissan Maxima. This incident is still under investigation with the assistance of the New Mexico State Police Crash Reconstruction Unit. No additional information is currently available.
