A Gillette resident died in a crash north of Cheyenne on Thursday, June 9th, according to a release from Wyoming Highway Patrol.
WHP says 39-year-old Gillette resident Sergio Dominguez-Valenzuela died in a crash that occurred at 7:08 p.m. on Thursday near mile post 40 on Interstate 25, approximately 27 miles north of Cheyenne.
Dominguez-Valenzuela was driving a 1990 Chevrolet van northbound on Interstate 25 when the rear driver’s side tire failed. The tire failure sent the van into the median where the Chevy rolled multiple times.
Dominguez-Valenzuela was not wearing his seat belt, and he was ejected. He sustained fatal injuries on scene. The front seat passenger, 48-year-old Gillette resident Maria Borjon De La Cruz, was also not wearing her seat belt. Borjon De La Cruz was partially ejected during the crash and was airlifted to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center where she was hospitalized.
Mechanical failure (the tire) and lack of seat belt use are being investigated as the contributing factors in this crash that marked the 27th highway fatality in Wyoming for 2016. There were 56 fatalities during this same time period in 2015.