Woman dead in vehicle pile up

February 11, 2009 - 8:50 PM

The Department of Public Safety released more information on a deadly five-vehicle pileup that happened Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 10 east of Balmorhea during a dust storm.

Communications officer Charlene Banks said Foley, Ala., resident Terri Logan Trest, 59, was pronounced dead after the 2007 Honda Accord she was riding in was smashed between two tractor-trailers. Driver William Trest, also of Foley, Ala., was flown to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa with critical injuries. William Trest is listed in stable condition at MCH.

According to the DPS report, the accident took place at 4:52 p.m. A 2007 Freightliner driven by Villa Ridge, Mo., trucker Michael James Walsh was heading east near mile marker 213 when he slowed down because of the high winds and low visibility. Another tractor-trailer driven by Reyes Sierro of Suniland Park, N.M., veered to the left to avoid Walsh and instead collided with Trest's Accord, which spun around and then collided with Walsh's truck.

A third 18-wheeler driven by Johnnie Rodriguez of El Paso ran into the Accord after Sierro veered into the inside lane, and then a fourth semi driven by Antonio Aparicio Cruz of Whittier, Calif. Collided with Sierro's rear.

Behind this wreck, Banks said there were "several other pileups," but she did not have any information on the number of cars involved in those, other than that no lethal injuries were caused in the crashes afterward. Other DPS and Reeves County officials said Tuesday that there were as many as 15 cars and trucks involved.

Banks said it was unknown whether Terri Trest wore a seat belt.