Wrong-Way Crash on I-27 in Lubbock Kills Three, Including 2-Year-Old Child, Injures Four Others

LUBBOCK, Texas – Three people, including a 2-year-old child, were killed and four others were seriously injured Thursday evening in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 27, according to the Lubbock Police Department.

The department’s Major Crash Unit is investigating the collision, which occurred shortly after officers received reports of a wrong-way driver.

Police said officers were notified at approximately 7:23 p.m. on July 23 of a vehicle traveling the wrong direction near 19th Street and Interstate 27. While officers were responding, dispatchers advised that the wrong-way vehicle had collided with two other vehicles in the 6600 block of Interstate 27 by 7:25 p.m.

When officers arrived, they found two of the three vehicles engulfed in flames. One Lubbock police officer entered the burning wreckage and rescued a 3-year-old child, suffering minor injuries during the rescue.

The child was transported to University Medical Center with serious injuries. A 2-year-old child who was also inside the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators said a passenger car driven by 29-year-old Oscar Hernandez Sotelo Jr. was traveling south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 27 with the two children in the back seat when it collided head-on with a northbound passenger car driven by 24-year-old Jairon Foster.

Foster was transported to University Medical Center with serious injuries. His passenger, 60-year-old Lakecha Collins, died at the scene.

Police said Sotelo Jr.’s vehicle continued traveling south after the initial collision before striking a pickup truck head-on. The force of the impact caused both vehicles to catch fire.

The pickup truck’s driver, 28-year-old Alexis Wallace, and her passenger, 19-year-old Aaliyah Wallace, were both transported to Covenant Medical Center with serious injuries.

Sotelo Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators believe alcohol and speed may have been contributing factors in the crash.

The Major Crash Unit is asking anyone who witnessed the collision or has video footage from the moments leading up to the crash to contact investigators by email at WHaulk@mylubbock.us or RMcPherson@mylubbock.us.

The investigation remains ongoing.