Driver in deadly crash was not intoxicated

Tire blowing out blamed in report

A toxicology report suggests Paul Ortega was at or below the legal limit of intoxication when a tire on his work truck blew out, triggering a deadly headon crash.

The May 12 wreck killed Ortega, 47, and four members of a family from Aztec as they traveled on U.S. 550 outside of Cuba.

The toxicology report, compiled by the Office of the Medical Investigator, shows medical examiners tested samples taken from two parts of Ortega’s body. One showed his alcohol level was 0.06 percent, the other showed 0.08 percent — New Mexico’s legal limit.

Some scientific sources say that natural processes that take place after death mean that the alcohol concentration reported in an autopsy may be different than it was at the time of a person’s death.

Ortega’s sister Carmella said the toxicology results confirmed what she already believed.

“I think for the most part I knew Paul was not over the limit just from knowing him, and knowing the kind of person he had become since having his daughter,” she said. His daughter just celebrated her third birthday.

Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office deputies said early on that alcohol was a factor in the crash, and two of Ortega’s passengers said they had been drinking that evening, but they did not say whether or not Ortega took part. Dos Equis and Corona bottles were scattered across the crash site, deputies said.

A crash report prepared by the Sheriff’s Office showed the tire blowout triggered the fatal wreck. But the same report said interviews with a tire expert indicated a “sober reasonable person would have been able to gain control of this vehicle if the tire blew up.”

Jimmie and Melissa Crawford and their children Grant, 4, and Chace, 2, who lived in Aztec, were on their way to Albuquerque for a weekend soccer tournament when their SUV was hit. Ortega and his passengers were headed to their northern New Mexico homes after a landscaping job.

Carmella Ortega said her brother was outgoing, generous and kind. He’d been an avid motorcyclist, but he sold his last bike just weeks before his death so he could spend more time with his young daughter.

“Ever since he became a dad,” Carmella Ortega said, “it was fingerpainting and parks, museums, taking her anywhere just to see her smile.”