Four die in crash

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — A grinding, four-vehicle crash on Interstate 40 Monday claimed the lives of four people and made a hero out of a Cibola County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Mace, even if he doesn't agree.

"I was just in the right place at the right time ... that's all," Mace said in an interview Tuesday.

Mace pulled a Honda sport utility vehicle off of a 4-year-old girl soaked in gasoline while fire burned in the vehicle's engine compartment.

About midnight Monday, Mace was driving east on Interstate 40 near Mile Marker 122 when he saw traffic coming to a sudden halt in front of him. "I knew it was an accident up ahead," Mace said. "When I pulled up an ambulance pulled up too."

Mace said just as he pulled to a stop, the sheriff's department radio dispatcher announced a traffic accident at Mile Marker 122. Mace said he told the dispatcher he just pulled up to it and got out of his patrol unit.

What lay before him made Mace grimace. According to an Associated Press story, a car driven west by 23-year-old Derek Shutiva, of the Pueblo of Acoma, hit another vehicle in the rear and the force of the accident caused him to skid across the center median and into the eastbound lanes.

Shutiva's car was right in the path of a Honda SUV driven by Marie Garcia, 54, of Bernalillo. Edwin Pena, 54, of Santa Fe, was sitting in the passenger seat. Shutiva hit Garcia's vehicle head-on.

The crash killed Shutiva, Garcia and Pena outright. The impact knocked 11-year-old Breanna Martinez sitting in a rear seat with 4-year-old Helena, last name unknown, out of the SUV. Breanna flew directly into the path of a tractor-trailer rig following the Garcia vehicle and she was killed.

Helena, meanwhile, ended up lying on the pavement at the rear of the SUV, her arm trapped under a tire and her clothes soaked in gasoline leaking from the ruptured SUV gasoline tank.

"The severity of the scene was horrible," Mace said. "The cars were really smashed."

Mace said he assessed the situation and called for more medical personnel and help. Nothing could be done for the couple sitting in the SUV, Mace said, adding that as he walked to the rear of the smashed Honda he heard a little girl crying.

Quickly walking around the vehicle, Mace spotted Helena, crying almost hysterically, her arm trapped under a tire, her clothes soaked in gasoline while she lay in a puddle of gasoline.

"Someone yelled there were flames coming from the engine compartment, but all I could think of was getting that little girl out of there," Mace said.

Mace looked for the SUV jack so he could lift the vehicle and free Helena's arm, but the horrendous crash had jammed the jack in place.

The deputy yelled for someone to get him a car jack and someone did. Meanwhile, the fire was being put out in the engine compartment. "I kept talking to her (Helena) to try to calm her down ... she was so scared," Mace said.

While feverishly working the jack handle Mace kept talking to Helena in the most soothing voice he could muster.

The smashed SUV lifted as Mace worked the jack handle until the left rear tire came off the ground.

Once he saw her arm was free, Mace scooped the child up in his arms and ran, to get her away from the potentially deadly gas-leaking vehicle and to get her to medical help. Suddenly, Mace remembered the ambulance. "It was carrying a patient to Albuquerque, and just happened to get caught up in the accident traffic," Mace said.

The medics cut her gasoline-soaked clothes off of her and wrapped Helena in a blanket to keep her warm. "It was cold out there," Mace said.

A helicopter came to take Helena away. "We helped load her in the helicopter," Mace said.

Mace walked back to his patrol unit, wrote a statement about what happened, and was then faced with working the rest of his shift. "When I got home to my place later I took a long, hot shower," Mace said. "My clothes were soaked in gasoline too."

Cibola County Undersheriff Johnny Valdez said he learned what happened later on Tuesday. "Any of my deputies faced with the same situation would have done what Tony did," Valdez said. "He did what he had to do to make sure the life of that little girl was safeguarded. I'm proud of all of them (deputies)."

Mace, 29, is a six-year Cibola County Sheriff's Department veteran. Born and raised in Grants and Milan, he graduated from Grants High School in 1995, and immediately joined the Untied States Marine Corps.

Mace was discharged from the Marines in 1998, came home to Cibola County and started working for the sheriff's department. "I come from a family involved with public service, and I love what I'm doing," Mace said and added he is no hero.

"Naw," he said with a short, but nervous laugh. "I was just doing my job."