Lane City wreck kills Wharton man
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

A Wharton man was killed and two other people injured in a Saturday morning wreck just south of Lane City.

The deceased has been identified as Jayme Gutierrez, 31, of Wharton. At the time of the wreck, he was driving south on Texas 60 in a 1988 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup, a Department of Public Safety report states.

The second vehicle involved in the wreck, a 2004 Dodge pickup, was traveling north on the highway and driven by Darwin Lewis Dobesh Jr., 40. He and a passenger in the pickup, Karissa Dobesh, 18, were transported to Gulf Coast Medical Center where they were treated and released, according to the report. Both were listed as Wharton residents.

The wreck was called in at 7:13 a.m. about 3.4 miles south of Lane City. In his report, Investigating Trooper Jose Mena wrote Gutierrez's vehicle crossed the center stripe into the northbound lane. Dobesh took evasive action, but his vehicle was hit and forced off the road to the right side and into a ditch.

Among those assisting Mena at the scene was DPS Sgt. Daniel Terronez. He reported Dobesh said he initially thought Gutierrez might have been swerving to avoid something in the roadway.

"But he said (Gutierrez) didn't move back into his lane so he tried to avoid him," Terronez said. "It appeared the Gutierrez's vehicle hit the other vehicle toward the front and then scraped down the side and ripped out the back axle. It looked like someone had taken a huge can opener down the sides of the vehicles."

The sergeant said Gutierrez was still pinned in his vehicle when he was pronounced dead. Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 Cynthia Kubicek conducted the inquest and Terronez said an autopsy will be done by the Galveston Medical Examiner's Office.

"It is routine in a case like this," he said. "We don't know if the driver was distracted or tired. Trooper Mena is doing the investigation and going out and talking with people. We try to backtrack between 24 to 48 hours to see when the person might have eaten or slept last or what else might have contributed to the wreck."

Others assisting at the scene included Matagorda County DPS Troopers Michael Hagg and John Kopacz. Deputies with the Wharton County Sheriff's Office as well as the Wharton and Boling fire departments also assisted.