Tragedy has struck Bexar County with the death of Deputy Meredith Portillo, an off-duty sheriff's deputy, who was killed in a wrong-way vehicle accident that also claimed two other lives. According to the FOX San Antonio report, the fatal incident occurred early Sunday morning near IH-37 and Southton Rd. Deputy Portillo, just 20-years-old and a recent addition to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, was reportedly driving her 2024 Ford Mustang with two passengers when the collision happened.
The catastrophic event unfolded when a pick-up truck, traveling in the wrong direction, collided head-on with Deputy Portillo's vehicle. Things turned from bad to worse as the pick-up caught on fire after the impact. News 4 San Antonio noted that police received alerts about a wrong-way truck trekking northbound in the southbound lanes of IH-37 prior to the accident. One of the passengers in Deputy Portillo's Mustang was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital, and another suffered serious injuries and remains hospitalized.
"At this time our thoughts and prayers remain with the Portillo Family. Funeral arrangements are forthcoming and will be announced when they become available," the Bexar County Sheriff's Office stated in a Facebook post. Deputy Portillo had joined the sheriff's office in September 2023, marking nearly a year into her tenure at the time of her untimely death, as detailed by FOX San Antonio.
The driver of the F-150 truck also perished in the aftermath of the crash, being declared dead at the scene. As emergency services responded to the tragic scene, the exact cause of the wrong-way driving event remained unclear. The investigation into a fatal crash continues, as local authorities work to reconstruct the events that led up to the deadly encounter.
