FATAL CRASH IN TWENTYNINE PALMS FRIDAY MORNING

A woman was killed and a man critically injured in a head-on crash in Twentynine Palms early this morning. According to CHP Officer Randy O’Brien, Samantha Reyes, 19, was driving a gray 2006 Toyota Tundra pickup truck southbound on Lear Avenue at a speed greater than 55 miles per hour, when for unknown reasons she crossed into the northbound lane, just south of Indian Trail, and collided head on with a flatbed construction truck about 6:10 a.m. The 2013 Hino flatbed  truck was driven Edward Sheetz, 50, of Rancho Cucamonga. O’Brien said Reyes died in the crash. Sheetz was trapped in his truck and firefighters extricated him; he was flown by Mercy Air to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs. Lear Avenue was closed from India Trail to Two Mile Road until about 1 p.m. during the investigation and clean-up of the crash.