A 36-year-old man is dead after his car slid sideways into the back of a semi-truck on Gateway Boulevard North near Mesquite Hills in Northeast El Paso early Saturday morning. A red sedan that may have been involved in the crash did not stay at the scene. El Paso police say the driver was traveling northbound in the left lane at a high rate of speed when he lost control, and he died at the scene.
El Paso police's Special Traffic Investigators were dispatched to the 12000 block of Gateway Boulevard North shortly after 6:30 a.m. on October 17, according to KTSM 9 News. Investigators say the semi-truck was traveling in the right lane when the car began to slide sideways and crashed into its rear end. The driver, whose name has not been released, died at the scene.
Police say a third vehicle, described only as a red sedan, may have been involved in the crash but did not stay at the scene. The sedan's role in the crash remains unclear.
What Leaving the Scene Could Mean Legally
If the red sedan's driver is found to have been involved in the fatal collision and left without stopping to render aid, Texas law treats that as a serious crime. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 550.021, leaving the scene of a crash that results in death is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in state prison and fines of up to $10,000. The statute requires drivers involved in fatal wrecks to remain at the scene and assist.
Fatal or life-threatening crashes typically prompt a response from El Paso's Special Traffic Investigators unit, and investigations can involve forensic reconstructions, on-scene evidence collection, physical evidence and vehicle data, Hoodline has previously reported.
A Corridor With a History of Fatal Wrecks
Gateway North near Mesquite Hills sits along a stretch of the US-54 corridor in Far Northeast El Paso.
The crash also lands amid a citywide spike in traffic deaths. El Paso had recorded 53 traffic fatalities in 2026 as of mid-October, running ahead of the 50 deaths logged over the same period in 2025.
Just two weeks earlier, five people died in three crashes in El Paso on Oct. 2–3, with speed and alcohol cited as possible factors, according to KTSM's Instagram account. Hoodline reported 83 traffic deaths in El Paso in 2023, 69 in 2024 and 53 in 2025. Alcohol-related fatal crashes have stayed stubbornly high, with 19 recorded in 2025 and 21 in 2024, per KFOX-TV. The City of El Paso adopted its Vision Zero Action Plan in 2023.
Anyone with information about the red sedan or the crash is asked to call the El Paso Police Department at 915-832-4400, or Crime Stoppers of El Paso anonymously at 915-566-8477.
