A 12-year-old boy is recovering after crashing an ATV into a guardrail in Fabens, and his father is now behind bars, accused of letting the child ride without supervision on a public road — and without telling him the brakes didn't work. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office arrested 37-year-old Jose Luis Lechuga in connection with the Oct. 12 crash at the intersection of Cypress Street and Wahlen Lane.
According to KVIA, investigators say Lechuga let his 12-year-old son drive the ATV on a public road without supervision, and that he never told the boy the brakes weren't functioning. The child crashed into a guardrail, was hospitalized and is listed in stable condition, the sheriff's office told the station. Deputies were dispatched to the crash site on Oct. 12, according to KTSM 9 News.
El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte said ATVs should not be operated on public roadways and that safety must come first, per KTSM's reporting. Ugarte said parents should make sure an ATV is safe to ride, supervise children while they operate one, and ensure kids wear helmets and other protective gear, adding that those precautions can help prevent serious injuries.
Charges and Booking Details
Lechuga was charged with abandoning/endangerment of a child and booked into the El Paso County Downtown Detention Facility on a $10,000 bond, the same KTSM report states. KTSM also reports that, according to jail records, Lechuga faces 14 other charges stemming from separate incidents between 2022 and 2024. The investigation into the Fabens crash remains ongoing, per KTSM.
A Spanish-language account from Noticias El Paso places the crash on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, at the same Cypress Street and Wahlen Lane intersection, and reports that Lechuga allowed the minor to operate the ATV without supervision while failing to inform him that the brake system was not working.
A Pattern of ATV Crashes in El Paso County
This is not the only recent ATV crash on El Paso County's radar. On Sept. 2, two people were hurt in a separate ATV crash in far East El Paso, according to a report from KTSM. In that incident, investigators said a blue Yamaha ATV traveling westbound on a dirt road at high speed crossed a dirt berm, causing a 15-year-old driver to lose control. The driver suffered serious injuries while a passenger sustained suspected minor injuries, the station reported.
Crashes on streets and highways tend to be more dangerous than those on trails or in fields. According to Nationwide Children's Hospital, children and teens hurt on a street or highway are about 1.5 times more likely to be hospitalized than those injured elsewhere. The organization also notes that more than 10 million ATVs are estimated to be in active use nationwide, and that children younger than 12 account for almost half of all ATV-related head and neck injuries.
Why Safety Advocates Push Youth-Sized Models
Nationwide Children's reports that more than 11,000 children and teens are treated annually in U.S. emergency departments for nonfatal ATV-related head and neck injuries, with more than 15% of injured youth admitted to a hospital. Being thrown from the vehicle is the most common mechanism of injury, the organization says, followed by crashes and rollovers.
Safety guidance from the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission states that riders younger than 16 should operate only age-appropriate youth ATV models rather than adult-sized machines, and should always wear a helmet along with other protective gear. Texas health officials echo that guidance; a safety flyer from the Texas Department of State Health Services states that 98% of deaths or injuries among children in that age group occur on adult-sized vehicles rather than youth models.
