Los Lunas, N.M : Deputy killed in crash in the Belen area Tuesday night, December 6, 2016

A Valencia County sheriff’s deputy ejected and killed in a crash apparently wasn’t wearing a seat belt when he lost control of his patrol vehicle and it overturned, authorities said Wednesday.

According to the New Mexico State Police, a preliminary investigation indicated 30-year-old Ryan Thomas of Belen was responding to a call Tuesday night when the single-vehicle crash occurred in the Belen area.

State police said Thomas apparently lost control of his vehicle and it went off the road and overturned. He died at the scene.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Gary Hall said Thomas was on a priority call but that he didn’t know its nature.

Sheriff’s Office’s policy requires personnel to use seat belts but deputies in a rush sometimes fail to engage the safety devices “and they think they’ve got it hooked and it didn’t get hooked,” Hall said.

He said he didn’t think officers consciously decide to not wear seat belts.

Thomas joined the he Sheriff’s Office about a year ago after serving in the military and then working for the Alamogordo Police Department, Hall said.

“It’s a tragic loss to our department,” Hall said. “He had the makings to be a very good officer. We got a lot of compliments from the public about how he handled situations.”

Hall said Thomas had a young daughter and that his wife is pregnant.

Source :
Police: Deputy killed in crash wasn’t wearing seat belt