A rollover crash near the Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint sent one person to an El Paso hospital with serious injuries Friday, after a vehicle flipped along Interstate 10 East and forced the closure of the passenger-vehicle lanes. A helicopter was called to the scene, and video circulating afterward showed a white van on its side near the checkpoint.
According to KFOX14, the injured person was airlifted to University Medical Center of El Paso. The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed the serious-injury crash, and DPS Acting Lieutenant Eliot Torres said it happened around 11 a.m. Friday near the Sierra Blanca checkpoint along I-10 East, per KVIA.
Checkpoint Traffic Diverted While Scene Is Cleared
The crash closed the passenger-vehicle lane crossing at the checkpoint, though commercial trucks kept moving. The same KFOX14 report notes that traffic continued to flow through the commercial truck lanes even as the passenger side remained shut down, with checkpoint traffic instead routed through the 18-wheeler side, according to KVIA.
A helicopter was stationed at the crash scene, and video reviewed by KVIA showed a white van resting on its side near the checkpoint.
Pattern of Rollovers Along This Stretch of I-10
Friday's crash is not the first serious rollover reported near Sierra Blanca. A 56-year-old woman from California died in August 2024 after a single-vehicle rollover on I-10 West about 15 miles west of Sierra Blanca, when her Toyota veered off the roadway and rolled onto its right side, according to KTSM.
In January, a rollover about six miles west of Sierra Blanca killed two children — a 3-month-old and a 10-year-old girl — after an SUV left the roadway, struck a cable barrier and rolled before coming to a stop upright on the eastbound shoulder, the El Paso Times reported. The driver in that crash, 29-year-old Briana Nicole Tarin of El Paso, suffered serious, incapacitating injuries and was also transported to University Medical Center of El Paso.
No additional details about Friday's crash, including the cause or the condition of the person airlifted, had been released as of Friday evening.
