The wife of the tractor-trailer driver killed in an Allen crash Tuesday is asking anyone with information about her husband’s final moments to come forward, as the unknowns, she said, leave her family “broken” and “lost.”
According to Allen police, 71-year-old Gustavo Gomez was driving northbound on U.S. Highway 75 when he collided with another vehicle just before 3 p.m.
Dashboard camera footage obtained by KTVT-TV (Channel 11) shows the tractor-trailer rolling off the side of the overpass and catching fire just before it hits the ground. Plumes of black smoke could be seen for miles as traffic backed up in both directions of U.S. Highway 75 near Stacy Road.
No other injuries were reported.
His wife, Helen Torres, told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) Gomez was a witty, kindhearted, good man whose love for cars and driving made his career a “great fit.”
On the day of the crash, Gomez was headed to Missouri to deliver mail for the U.S. Postal Service. He was driving for Bancroft and Sons Transportation, a company based in Grand Prairie that Gomez had been working with for 21 years.
“He was a very hard worker. He always has been for his family,” Torres said of the five children Gomez leaves behind. “Whatever it was, whether it was driving across the country or not, he always made sure we were taken care of and provided for.”
The video of the seconds after the collision has garnered hundreds of thousands of views online, but Torres said what happened just before the truck and car collided remains unclear.
Additional footage from WFAA showed a man believed to be the driver of the car speaking with officers Tuesday, but Allen police have not released any information about what led to the fatal collision.
Torres is asking anyone with footage leading up to the crash to alert police.
“We need some understanding of what happened so we can move forward,” Torres said, adding her husband was “always so careful.”
“He always knew what he was driving, he knew that was a big machine and that he had to be watching out for everybody.”
In a Facebook post, J.D. Bancroft, the transportation company’s vice president, echoed calls for footage of the crash, and said Gomez was a “loyal and dedicated employee that had a safe driving record with Bancroft and Sons for over 20+ years.”
“Everyone at Bancroft and Sons is mourning the loss of close member of our family of drivers,” he wrote.
Bancroft and Sons Transportation offered to pay for Gomez’s funeral, Torres said.
