Background: The intersection of Sunland Park Drive and Appaloosa Drive in Sunland Park, New Mexico (Google Maps) Inset: Vicente Vasquez (New Mexico State Police)
A man is accused of striking two pedestrians with his truck – killing one of them – and then driving off, just to allegedly admit to his family that he had “killed” someone close to a nearby casino.
Vicente Vasquez, 61, faces charges of homicide by vehicle, knowingly leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm or death, failure to give information and render aid, failure to give immediate notice of an accident, and tampering with evidence, the New Mexico State Police announced.
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It was the eve of the Fourth of July at about 10:45 p.m. when New Mexico State Police troopers responded to the intersection of Sunland Park Drive and Appaloosa Drive in Sunland Park, New Mexico. The small city is mere miles away from the state”s borders with Texas and Mexico.
Investigators learned that two pedestrians were trying to cross the road when they were hit by a maroon Ford Ranger “traveling at a high rate of speed.” One of the pedestrians was critically injured and transported to a nearby hospital. The other, 26-year-old Graciela Sahs, died at the site of the crash.
Sunland Park police officers later located a damaged maroon Ford Ranger “concealed under a tarp” at a home in the city, with the damage matching that which would have occurred from the crash. Vasquez was identified as a suspect, and law enforcement said they learned he had told family members he had “killed” someone.
When investigators later spoke with him, he allegedly admitted to being involved in the crash, but he said he “believed he hit a dog,” and he didn’t stop his truck “because he was tired.” Police said he admitted to trying to hide the vehicle.
It was Vasquez’s niece that tipped police off to him, KTSM, NBC’s El Paso affiliate, reported.
“I’m very angry,” said Sahs’ father, Nikolas Nava. “Not only for taking away our daughter, but breaking her heart you know, I mean it’s a double whammy. He’s destroyed our family.”
Sahs was out buying fireworks for the Fourth of July the next day, her family told KFOX. Nava suggested Vasquez had been arrested for a driving-related offense before.
“It’s OK to be scared, but stop. Or if you don’t stop, turn yourself in and be like, ‘I think I did something,’ but for the guy to run away like a coward, I don’t know. And knowing that it’s not the first time he’s gotten arrested for it, you know that he’s been arrested previously for drunk driving, what was he doing behind the wheel?” he added.
