LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Las Cruces police have arrested an 18-year-old suspect in the death of a teenage boy who was killed by an SUV investigators say veered off a Highway 70 frontage road and struck him while he was walking on the sidewalk.
Isaiah Angel Anthony Gutierrez of Las Cruces was being held Saturday in the Dona Ana County Detention Center where he was booked on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the 16-year-old boy on Friday.
The victim was a student at Organ Mountain High School, police said. His name has not been released.
Police say they found the boy dead when they responded to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian crash on Bataan Memorial East just east of Mesa Grande Boulevard at about 4 p.m. Friday.
Investigators believe he was walking along the sidewalk that parallels the road when he was truck by an eastbound Chevrolet Tahoe, police said in a statement Friday.
Gutierrez remained on the scene of the accident and was booked into the jail late Friday night, police said. Jail records don't list a lawyer for him.
Preliminary information indicates excessive speed may have been a contributing factor in the crash. Alcohol does not appear to have been involved, police said Saturday.