Extracted from The Pecos Enterprise (Pecos, TX)
Friday, January 4, 2008

California man killed in crash near Balmorhea

A California man died and the driver of the vehicle he was in was injured in a one-vehicle rollover that occurred last Friday on Interstate 10 near Balmorhea.

According to a report by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Cristian Raul Viejobueno, 22, of San Clemente, Calif., was pronounced dead at the scene following the accident, which occurred on I-10 about 6.7 miles west of Balmorhea at 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 28. Viejobueno was a passenger in a 2006 Toyota Tundra pick-up, driven by 18-year-old Katharine Nicole Robbins of Mission Viejo, Calif., which was eastbound on the interstate when the accident occurred.

DPS Trooper Roy Lytle, who investigated the crash, said that due to the load on the vehicle and the crosswinds in the area, Robbins lost control of the pickup and veered right into the south side barrow ditch. She then overcorrected to the left, causing the pickup to spin and enter a right side skid across the eastbound lanes and into the center median.

Little said Viejobueno, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle. He was pronounced dead by Reeves County Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Rosendo Carrasco at 11:10 a.m., and his body was taken to Peaceful Gardens Funeral Home. Robbins, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered only minor lacerations, but was transported by EMS to Reeves County Hospital for treatment.

The death was one of five highway fatalities in Reeves County over the weekend between Christmas and New Year's Day. Four persons died last Saturday in a noontime head-on collision on U.S. 285, about five miles south of the Texas-New Mexico state line.