Worker dies as tanker plows into office

GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) - A gasoline tanker truck slammed into a Gallup loan office just before noon on Friday killing one person.

Three people were inside Sun Loans when the tanker truck came barreling through the side of the business.

All three were employees.  42 year-old Laura Bitsid was killed.  Her co-workers Gloria Begay and Tiffany Williams, as well as the truck's driver, 57-year-old Carl Reinhard, were taken to an Albuquerque hospital with critical injuries.  

The incident started about two blocks north of Sun Loans.

State police say Reinhard's truck clipped a pick-up on Interstate 40, which caused him to lose control.  His big rig swerved into a Furrs parking lot, up an embankment and crashed into two vehicles parked outside Sun Loans before crashing into the building.

Those cars belong to two of the women inside.

The crash severed the fuel lines on the tanker truck.  A hazard materials team was called in to fix the leak.  The area around the scene was evacuated as a precaution.

Investigators are checking to see if Reinhard was impaired by drugs or alcohol or if he suffered a medical episode.

The majority of the Sun Loans building is now resting on the tanker.  It will be some time before crews can secure the integrity of the structure.