Tag: 18-wheeler accident

Four months after a man was killed in a crash with an 18-wheeler on Interstate 30 in Arlington, the truck’s driver was arrested after surveillance video contradicted his statement, Arlington police said in a news release on Monday.

Jose De La Luz Cadena-Marquez, 51, was arrested by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol on Thursday, Sep 25. Cadena-Marquez is in custody in El Paso, police said.

Officers responded to the 2600 block of East I-30 about 2:20 a.m., on May 12, after receiving reports of a major crash involving a 2023 Hyundai Elantra and and a semitractor-trailer that Cadena-Marquez was driving, police said.

The driver of the Elantra, 22-year-old James Gabehart, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Investigation led to arrest

During preliminary investigations Cadena-Marquez told officers the Elantra was stopped in the main freeway lanes with no lights on, preventing him from seeing it, police said in the release.

Cadena-Marquez told officers that he was blocked by traffic on all sides, so he couldn’t avoid crashing into the back of the Elantra. Investigators later reviewed surveillance video from nearby traffic cameras and the 18-wheeler’s dashboard camera, which “contradicted Cadena-Marquez’s claims,” police said.

The footage revealed that the Elantra’s brake lights were illuminated at the time of the crash and that there was no traffic next to or behind the 18-wheeler that would have prevented Cadena-Marquez from trying to avoid the collision, police said.

Investigators also determined that Cadena-Marquez did not attempt to slow down prior to the crash, police said.

Cadena-Marquez faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide, police said.