A 20-year-old motorcyclist died after crashing into a turning car on Knights Drive in El Paso's Lower Valley, police have confirmed. Brandon Olivas was riding a 2019 Kawasaki Ninja eastbound when he struck a westbound 2005 Chevrolet Malibu that was making a left turn, and he later died from his injuries at a local hospital.
Police identified the victim as Brandon Olivas, according to telemundo48elpaso.com, which reported that the crash happened the night of Wednesday, Oct. 14, in the 7900 block of Knights. KFOX14/CBS4 reported that the crash site was near Thomas Manor Park and that Special Traffic Investigation Unit investigators believe Olivas was speeding east on Knights Drive when he crashed. An earlier report from CBS4 had placed the collision at 401 Bernadine Avenue around 7:30 p.m., a detail that conflicts with the Knights Drive location identified in later reporting.
How the Crash Unfolded
Investigators say Olivas suffered serious injuries after his motorcycle struck the Malibu and was transported to a hospital, where he later died. Per the KFOX14/CBS4 report, the Malibu had been traveling west on Knights Drive before turning. Investigators concluded that speed and failure to yield the right of way caused the crash, the station reported.
The Special Traffic Investigations Unit continues investigating the crash, per the same Telemundo48 account. The outlet's reporting also named the Malibu's 55-year-old driver as Jorge Maul, though that detail has not appeared in English-language coverage of the wreck.
A Rising Toll on El Paso Roads
Olivas's death adds to a traffic fatality count that is already running ahead of last year's pace. El Paso has recorded 53 traffic deaths so far in 2026, compared with 50 at the same point in 2025, according to police figures cited by Telemundo48. Just over a week earlier, KVIA reported the city's death toll stood at 51, compared with 46 at the same time in 2025, after 55-year-old Salvador De Leon died following a motorcycle crash in West El Paso.
That West El Paso crash came amid what KTSM described as a particularly deadly stretch on local roads, with speed and alcohol identified as possible factors in three separate crashes that killed five people over one weekend in early October. The El Paso Times reported that at least five people died in three separate traffic collisions over that same weekend, including a motorcyclist killed in a single-vehicle crash in the 5200 block of North Desert Boulevard.
A Pattern of Motorcycle Deaths This Year
Olivas is at least the fourth motorcyclist reported killed on El Paso roads since July. On Sept. 20, 26-year-old Miguel Angel Candelaria died after crashing into the back of a pickup truck and being run over by another truck on Zaragoza Road near Tierra Este Road, the El Paso Times reported. In July, Alfredo De La Torre and Miriam De La Torre, both of Horizon City, were killed when a vehicle struck their motorcycle from behind in the Lower Valley near Yarbrough Drive, and 21-year-old Steven Zamora of Fort Bliss died after crashing into an underpass wall on Airway Boulevard near El Paso International Airport.
The rising count this year comes even as the city has touted longer-term progress on road safety. El Paso saw roadway fatalities fall 36.1% from 2023 to 2025, according to KFOXTV, including a nearly 24.3% drop from 2024 to 2025 alone — a decline the city said outpaced the national reduction of 10.5% over the same period. Whether the recent cluster of fatal crashes will alter that longer trend remains to be seen.
