ANDREWS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — An investigation report published by the National Transportation Safety Board shows it was not a 13-year-old driving a pickup truck that crossed into oncoming traffic, colliding with a New Mexico golf team’s van and causing a deadly crash, as was initially reported.
NTSB said DNA testing done by the Texas Department of Public Safety showed the driver was a 38-year-old man who had meth in his system. The 13-year-old was in the truck with him.
The investigation laid out the following timeline:
- At a little after 8 p.m. on March 15 a Dodge 2500 pickup truck crossed into the northbound lane of FM 1788 in Andrews County, Texas
- The truck collided head-on with a van carrying a New Mexico golf team and coach
- Both the 13-year-old and 38-year-old in the pickup truck were killed
- The coach and six students in the van were killed. Two additional students were seriously injured
- The investigation has not found evidence that the pickup truck or its tires defaulted to this point, NTSB said
NTSB is holding a news conference on the crash Thursday at 2 p.m., it announced.
The University of the Southwest men’s and women’s golf teams were headed back to Hobbs, New Mexico after a competition in Midland when the crash happened.
FILE – Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers look over the scene of a fatal car wreck early on March 16, 2022, half of a mile north of State Highway 115 on Farm-to-Market Road 1788 in Andrews County, Texas, where a pickup truck crossed the center line of a two-lane road in Andrews County, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the New Mexico state line on Tuesday evening and crashed into a van carrying members of the University of the Southwest men’s and women’s golf teams, said Sgt. Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The father of a 13-year-old boy, not the teen, was driving a pickup that struck the team’s van federal officials said on Thursday, July 14 . (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP, File)
At the time, USW released a statement that said in part, “The USW campus community is shocked and saddened today as we mourn the loss of members of our university family.” USW provided a link to a fundraiser for the victims’ families.
“We grieve with the loved ones of the individuals whose lives were horrifically taken too soon in this fatal vehicle crash near Andrews last night,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
