Deputies: Cyclist training for upcoming race fatally struck near Galisteo

May 1—Luis Quiroz-Batista had regularly ridden his bicycle along a route near Galisteo as he prepared for an upcoming race.

He didn't return home from the ride Monday evening, his wife told Santa Fe County sheriff's deputies, so she went out in search of him and encountered a blocked roadway.

She learned Quiroz-Batista, 35, had been fatally struck by a pickup on Camino de los Abuelos, just west of the village.

The incident occurred not long after Quiroz-Batista had been riding with her and their children, Jackeline Portillo-Castillo told deputies.

Deputies determined the cyclist had died at the scene of the head-on collision around 7 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Camino de los Abuelos and La Jara Ranch Trail. As he was riding east on Camino de los Abuelos, Quiroz-Batista was struck by an 88-year-old man from Galisteo who was driving westbound in a Toyota Tacoma and attempted to make a left turn onto La Jara Ranch Trail, a sheriff's office report states.

The elderly driver called 911 after the crash, deputies wrote, and later told officers "he had difficulty seeing due to the setting sun that was shining directly in to his eyes" at the time of the head-on collision.

"As he made his turning movement he felt and heard a loud thud," a report states.

Deputies wrote it appeared Quiroz-Batista had struck the pickup's front passenger fender and was thrown from his bicycle. He was wearing a helmet, the report states, but the protective gear seemed to have broken on impact.

The driver told deputies he had been traveling about 20 mph. Investigators believe Quiroz-Batista was traveling "at a higher rate of speed" than the pickup, the report states.

Law enforcement officers and an investigator from the state Office of the Medical Investigator agreed that what they observed at the scene was consistent with the driver's account of the incident, according to the report.

No charges or traffic citations were filed against the driver, the sheriff's office confirmed, and an investigation into the incident was closed as of Wednesday.

The elderly driver told deputies he had consumed a small amount of whiskey at a friend's house about an hour and a half before the crash. However, deputies determined alcohol was not a contributing factor in the collision, the report states.

A deputy wrote he believed the driver did not see Quiroz-Batista due to the glare of the sun, but "had no suspicions whatsoever [the driver] had been under the influence at the time of the crash."

Portillo-Castillo could not be reached for comment.

She told deputies her husband had been training and for a race and frequently rode a familiar route in the area. She and the couple's children had been riding with him about an hour before the crash, she added.

While she and the children returned to their home north of Galisteo, near Lone Butte, her husband continued on, she said.

When he did not come home, she became worried.