By Roger Lanse

On Sunday, Sept, 18, 2022, at about 3:33 in the afternoon, the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority received a call from someone trying to flag people down along Highway 152 near Emory Pass. The Sierra County Sheriff's Office then called advising of a possible fatal crash at that location where a motorcycle may have gone off the mountain. SCSO requested traffic control from the Grant County Sheriff's Office on the Grant County side of the Pass advising the crash site is about one-half mile outside of Grant County. GCSO then contacted the New Mexico State Police to ask them to provide the needed traffic control.

Personnel from the SCSO told the Beat on Thursday, Sept. 22, that there was no crash and no fatality. It seems Roger Lewis, 73, of Las Cruces, was traveling home from Silver City and had gotten off his motorcycle at the location to rest following a medical issue. A passserby noticed Lewis to be disoriented and helped him to stand up his bike from where it had been lying on its side. As the passerby was walking back to his vehicle, according to an SCSO deputy, Lewis lost his balance and tumbled 15-20 feet down an embankment off the highway.

Medical and law enforcement personnel arrived on scene, the deputy said, along with the Las Palomas Extraction Team from Las Palomas, NM. Las Palomas is located about 15-20 miles northeast of the scene. The LPET was able to bring Lewis up the incline in a basket, where he was assessed, stabilized, and transported to Sierra Vista Hospital in T or C .