KRQE reports that two people died Wednesday morning after a vehicle struck them while they were parked on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 84/285 in Santa Fe. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies arrived before 7:34 a.m. and found a 74-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man being treated by county medical personnel.
The woman died at the scene. The man died after being taken to Christus St. Vincent Hospital, and the two victims have not been identified pending family notification.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office
Investigators said a southbound vehicle left the road and hit the pair as they were outside of their vehicle. That sequence matters for anyone trying to understand the crash: the impact happened on the shoulder, not in moving traffic, and it came before the morning commute was fully underway.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Homicide Division is handling the investigation into the cause of the crash. For readers with a direct connection to the scene, the practical point is that the case is still active and the facts released so far focus on where the vehicle left the roadway, who was struck, and where treatment began.
Traffic Homicide Division
Alcohol does not appear to be a factor, according to investigators. That leaves the reason the southbound vehicle left the road as the main unanswered issue in the case, along with why the two people were outside their vehicle on the shoulder when the collision happened.
The deaths on Wednesday show how quickly a roadside stop can turn fatal once a vehicle crosses the edge of the lane. The investigation remains ongoing, and the sheriff’s office has not identified the two victims yet because family notification has not been completed.
