Two northern New Mexico communities mourn loss of teens killed in separate crashes

Northern New Mexico mourns loss of teens killed in crashes

A star Pojoaque basketball player died in a car crash over the weekend while two Española Valley High School students died in a crash this week.

POJOAQUE, N.M. — Two northern New Mexico communities are mourning the loss of two teens killed in separate crashes over the last week.

Students and teachers in Pojoaque will gather Thursday for a balloon release for Nick Manzanares, a senior and basketball player at Pojoaque Valley High School. He died Sunday morning in a single-vehicle rollover crash near Algodones while coming back from his mom’s Rio Rancho home after Homecoming festivities.

We’re still waiting to hear more from the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office on what led up to the crash.

Meanwhile, in Española, police are investigating a deadly crash involving two high school students.

We received video of the crash site, showing police at the scene Tuesday night along Riverside Drive. Two Española Valley High School students were reportedly in one of the cars. One of them died while first responders flew the other one to UNM Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Española Public Schools identified the student who died as Emmanuel Piñeda Munoz.

Authorities say everyone in the other car was fine. There is no word on what caused that crash.