GALLUP, N.M. (AP) - Two people were killed when their pickup collided head-on with a tractor-trailer rig while driving the wrong way on Interstate 40 after being chased by police, authorities said Saturday.
Preliminary information indicates the chase began after the pickup sped away from a motel where Gallup police went late Friday night in response to a report of two males brandishing a gun, the New Mexico State Police said in a statement.
Police chased the truck as it got onto eastbound Interstate 40 but halted their pursuit when the pickup crossed the freeway and began traveling eastbound in westbound lanes, the statement said.
A State Police sergeant parked in the median saw the truck traveling the wrong way on I-40 and fired a shotgun at least once at the pickup which continued driving eastbound in westbound lanes until the head-on collision occurred, the statement said.
Both people in the pickup were ejected and killed and neither of the two people in the big were injured, the statement said.
No identities were released pending autopsies.
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