A combination of speed and driver inattention is being investigated as the cause of a fatal vehicle crash east of Rock Springs Sunday.
According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the crash was reported at 12:55 p.m. near milepost 110.5 on Interstate 80. A 2019 Dodge Caravan was traveling east on the interstate and approached a section of road that had been closed due to hazardous winter conditions.
The driver failed to notice traffic was being detoured to an exit and collided with the back of a slow-moving 2020 Freightliner Penske truck.
At the time of the crash, the road was icy and snow covered due to wind blowing snow across the road.
The driver of the Caravan was identified as 53-year-old Luville Hopkins of California. She was wearing a seatbelt and transported to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County for treatment of her injuries.
The passenger, Mary Gallego, 79, of Sacramento, Calif., died at the scene of the crash. She was not wearing a seatbelt.
The driver of the truck was 27-year-old Anthony Montelongo Hewitt, of Colorado. He was wearing a seatbelt and was uninjured.
Gallego’s death was the 15th fatality reported on Wyoming highways in 2021.
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