Icy roads cited in fatal I-40 accident
A wrecked van sits on the side of Interstate 40 on Monday morning. One person was killed and two others injured in the accident that happened at about the 10 mile marker. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — An Illinois man died Monday during a two-vehicle crash on Interstate Highway 40 about 12 miles west of Gallup.

After an overnight storm coated much of McKinley County in slush and ice, a full-size van traveling east lost control on I-40 near mile marker nine, crossed the median and crashed through an SUV heading west about 8 a.m. Monday. The driver of the SUV, 46-year-old James Gasser, died immediately, according to McKinley County Sheriff’s Investigator Owen Peña.

“By the time he perceived the van, he had no reaction time,” Peña said Monday afternoon.

Peña said the van was traveling east at approximately 65 mph, or 95 feet per second, when it slid across the icy road, through the median and into oncoming traffic. The enormous thrust behind the much-heavier van literally sheared the SUV; the van rolled once — over the guard rail — and landed right side up.

“That vehicle actually went through the other vehicle,” Peña said.

He said the driver of the van, 29-year-old Oklahoma resident Jeremy Patton, walked away unscathed excepting a few scrapes from broken glass.

Gasser was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering a fatal head injury. The passenger of the SUV, 24-year-old Jonathan Munsterman, suffered a laceration to his head and other, unknown injuries. Paramedics took him to Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital before he was transported to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque.

Peña said each man had been wearing his seat belt, that the accident was entirely weather related.

“There was no alcohol or drugs,” he said, adding that no citations are expected.

Frozen roads Monday wreaked havoc in other parts of McKinley County, too. Between midnight and noon Monday, Gallup Police Department handled 10 crashes while McKinley County Sheriff’s Department responded to 18 crashes, according to Metro Dispatch. District 6 state police handled four crashes — three of them on I-40 — and assisted with several others, according to state police Capt. Darren Soland.

Reporter Phil Stake can be reached at philip.stake@gmail.com, or by calling (505) 863-6811 x223.