One Person Dies after Two 18-Wheelers Collide in Sutton County

One person is dead, and another seriously injured, after two Freightliner Truck Tractors collided on I-10, 32 miles east of Sonora on May 26.

DPS officials said today that 41-year-old Florida resident Eliezer Perez, who drove a 2014 Freightliner with a towed unit, had just entered the roadway from the access road and was traveling eastbound on I-10. At the same time, a 2013 Freightliner and a towed unit driven by Georgia resident Tracy L. Driggers, 46, was already traveling eastbound on I-10 at “highway speeds cresting at a high grade.” At that point, Driggers’ truck struck Perez, and then struck a concrete wall on the overpass before catching fire.

“The driver was pulled from the vehicle by witnesses,” said DPS officials.

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Above: Crash in Sonora. (Picture Courtesy of Cody Day)

There was also a passenger, Larry W. Thompson, who was in the sleeper of Driggers’ Freightliner at the time of the crash. He did not have a seatbelt on.

“[He] was unable to be removed,” added DPS.

Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene by JP John Wilson, and Driggers was transported to Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo for incapacitating injuries. She was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash. Perez was not injured.

Weather conditions at the time of the crash were reported clear and dry, and the reported speed limit in the area is 80 mph.

Next of kin have been notified, and Trooper Juan Solis with Highway Patrol in Sonora investigated the scene. Trooper Christopher White, DPS Ozona, Trooper Scott Keane, DPS Big Lake, and Trooper Nick Sanders, DPS Junction, assisted at the scene.