Two people were killed in separate crashes on Permian Basin highways in recent days.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Terlingua resident John Bainbridge Ryan, 75, was traveling south on State Highway 118 Wednesday afternoon when his Jeep Cherokee veered into the northbound lanes for unknown reasons and struck a Toyota SUV being driven north by a 31-year-old man from Pflugerville.
Ryan was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened 44 miles south of Alpine. The driver of the Toyota was taken to University Medical Center in El Paso in stable condition. His 72-year-old passenger, an Alpine man who was the only person not wearing a seatbelt, was taken to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa in serious condition.
According to DPS, Lamesa resident Nicholas Gilchrest, 34, was traveling south on U.S. Highway 87 on Thursday morning when his Dodge 2500 went into a side skid after hitting standing water seven miles outside Lamesa. The truck then rolled over into the median.
Gilchrest, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened shortly before 6 a.m.
