Clovis traffic officer Mike Harmer surveys the damage to a Honda Civic after it was hit by a tractor-trailer Wednesday afternoon on U.S. Highway 60/70/84. CNJ staff photo: Rick White
Darrell Todd Maurina
A Cannon Air Force Base airman was flown to a Lubbock hospital on Wednesday afternoon following a crash that shut down traffic on Mabry Drive for nearly two hours.
Clovis police said the airman was driving a 2001 Honda eastbound on 3300 East Mabry Drive and attempted to make a left turn into a business when the collision occurred with a 1995 Kenworth tractor-trailer. The truck was westbound on Mabry.
Police said neither the truck driver nor a passenger in the truck reported any injuries. The airman was extracted from the car by Clovis Fire Department personnel, who transported the driver to Plains Regional Medical Center. The airman, whose name is not being released pending notification of relatives, was flown to Lubbock by air ambulance.
“Everything is just sketchy at this point,” said Capt. Cristina Oxtra, chief of public affairs at Cannon, who said late Wednesday she did not have information on the airman’s medical condition.
Police withheld the names of the truck driver and passenger pending completion of the crash investigation.
Capt. Dan Blair of the Clovis Police Department said the office has special procedures for dealing with major crashes and was able to reroute traffic on Mabry, which at that point serves U.S. Routes 60, 70, and 84, on a one-mile detour through town.
“Initially at the scene we had two officers helping with the accident, two for traffic control, and due to the seriousness of what it could be, we called in the major crash team, so there were seven officers at the scene,” Blair said. “When I got there, basically they already had it under control, but traffic was backed up about a quarter mile before they got it cleared out.”
No citations have been issued, Blair said.
Blair said the department’s major crash team is called out only for the worst collisions in the city and brings patrol officers and supervisors with extensive experience in crash investigations to help with crashes even if they are off-duty at the time.
