By James Staley
Las Cruces Sun-News
LAS CRUCES — Two corrections officers at the state prison near Las Cruces died Wednesday in a crash while they were on vacation in San Antonio, Texas.
Noel Reyes-Mendez, 22, and Jesus Antonio Felix, 24, were killed about 8:30 a.m. after the pickup truck they were riding in rolled on Interstate 10 just outside San Antonio, Texas Department of Public Safety officials told the El Paso Times on Thursday.
Reyes-Mendez and Felix, both of El Paso County, were killed instantly, according to a statement from New Mexico Corrections Department Secretary Gregg Marcantel.
Reyes-Mendez, of Anthony, Texas, was not wearing a seat belt, officials said. At this time, it is unknown if Felix, of El Paso, was wearing a seat belt.
The 2007 Toyota truck was traveling east on I-10 when the driver, 19-year-old Amber Calderon of Canutillo, lost control of the vehicle causing it to veer into the center lane and rollover, officials told the Times. No further information was available on what may have caused the crash.
No further information was available on what may have caused the crash, officials said.
Calderon, who was wearing a seat belt, was taken to a hospital in Kerrville, Texas, and was released.
Another passenger, Haley Holguin, 21, of Anthony, Texas, was taken to University Medical Center in San Antonio in stable condition. She was not wearing a seat belt, officials said
Reyes-Mendez and Felix graduated from the state academy in 2012 then started working at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility west of Las Cruces, Marcantel said.
He added that they were candidates for promotions to the prison’s critical incident team.
On March 7 an inmate at the Las Cruces prison was stabbed to death, the first homicide there since 2007. That investigation is ongoing.
“It has been a difficult week for our department and especially for SNMCF,” Marcantel said in a prepared statement. “The loss of these two officers will take time to sink in and we have provided counselors for staff who would like to talk about their feelings.”
Marcantel and other Corrections Department officials spent Thursday at the facility, spokeswoman Alex Tomlin said.