NTSB: Father on meth while driving truck that killed Westminster golfer, not 13 year old
A Texas man, not his 13-year-old son, drove the pickup truck that slammed into a van carrying a Westminster gofer and other New Mexico college athletes. The National Transportation Safety Board said 38-year-old Henrich Siemens, was driving and that toxicological testing showed the presence of methamphetamine in Siemens' blood. Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado was one of the victims.
The National Transportation Safety Board said two days after the March 15 collision in rural West Texas that its early findings suggested that the 13 year old was driving the pickup that struck the van carrying University of the Southwest students and their coach back to Hobbs, New Mexico, from a golf tournament in Midland.
The NTSB said in a preliminary report released Thursday that DNA testing confirmed that the father had meth in his system.
"This was a very difficult investigation to determine some of the facts based on the catastrophic nature of the damage and the post-crash fire," Robert Molloy, the NTSB's director of highway safety, said at a news conference.
Siemens and his son died in the crash along with six members of the men's and women's golf teams and their coach, who was driving the van, which was towing a cargo trailer.
A pickup truck crossed the center line of a two-lane road in Andrews County, about 30 miles east of the New Mexico state line and crashed into a van carrying members of the University of the Southwest men's and women's golf teams, said Sgt. Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The NTSB said the road they were traveling on consisted of a northbound lane and southbound lane. Near the crash site, the roadway was straight but there was no highway lighting.
Those killed in the van were coach Tyler James, 26, of Hobbs, New Mexico; and golfers Mauricio Sanchez, 19, of Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; Karisa Raines, 21, of Fort Stockton, Texas; Laci Stone, 18, of Nocona, Texas; and Tiago Sousa, 18, of Portugal.
Two other students who were in the van were seriously injured.
Most of the students were freshman who were getting their first taste of life away from home at the private Christian university with enrollment numbering in the hundreds. Those who knew James, the coach, said it had been his goal to be a head coach, and he was excited to be there.