Kevin Montes Killed in 18-wheeler Accident in Roosevelt County, NM
Roosevelt County, NM -- August 11, 2022, Kevin Montes was killed due to an accident where his vehicle crashed with an 18-wheeler.
Investigators reported that the crash took place at around 8:10 p.m. along State Road 128, just outside of Jal.
According to New Mexico State Police, 53-year-old Kevin Montes, of Katy, Texas, was in pickup traveling eastbound on State Road 128. It appears the pickup may have gone over the center line where it then crashed with a westbound 18-wheeler.
As a result of the collision, Montes sustained fatal injuries. The truck driver had minor injuries, reports say. At this time, additional details are unavailable.
Commentary on Kevin Montes 18-wheeler Accident in Roosevelt County
As clear as these reports seem, I'm always concerned about how thorough authorities were. I have no specific reason to doubt the efforts of whoever led the investigations here. It's simply that I've seen too many situations throughout my career where a family asked us to look into things, and it turned out police missed something important.
Not long ago, for example, a family came to us with reports similar to this one. Authorities said their loved one went over the center line and hit an 18-wheeler. However, the evidence didn't align with that story. What the evidence actually showed was that the 18-wheeler drifted into oncoming lanes, and the victim swerved left to avoid it. The truck then veered back into its original lane where the collision happened. Somehow, the inexperienced officer left in charge of an investigation he wasn't equipped to handle let all of that slip through the cracks.
Again, I'm not saying anything like that happened here, but it's one of those examples that led me to always double check what authorities are saying. Sometimes, further investigations simply confirm what police already know, which can itself be important for a family seeking closure. Otherwise, if there is more to this story, steps to look into this incident more thoroughly could be crucial for getting a family the answers they deserve.
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