Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
A Clovis area man, a New Mexico Department of Transportation employee, was killed on the job Thursday on State Route 209 just north of Clovis.
Gerald Woodard, 58, was a Clovis area resident, according to DOT spokesperson Candace Barela.
New Mexico State Police stated in a news release that Woodard was fatally struck by a Dodge Ram driven by a 69 year old man, who was not identified, as Woodard was riding in the back of a DOT truck providing traffic control at an accident scene.
The cause of the collision in which Woodard was killed is under investigation, the news release stated.
State Police stated in the news release that NMDOT was providing traffic control around a crash scene using cones at about 11 a.m. Thursday at Milepost 6 just north of Clovis.
State police stated the DOT vehicles had flashing red and blue lights and flags.
“For reasons still unknown,” the news release stated, “a 2014 Dodge Ram driven by a 69-year-old man failed to follow the traffic pattern and collided with a 2020 NMDOT Ford pickup.”
Woodard was riding in the bed of the DOT truck and received fatal injuries, the news release stated. Woodard was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Dodge was airlifted to a Lubbock hospital in critical condition.
Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the crash, and seat belts were not properly used, the news release stated. The crash remains under investigation by the New Mexico State Police.
The crash for which the DOT employees were providing traffic control involved a semi-tractor-trailer and a passenger vehicle. Further details on that earlier crash were not made available on Friday afternoon.
