Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The father of a Tucumcari teen killed in a one-vehicle accident in January filed a petition that sets up a possible wrongful-death lawsuit involving the case.
Steven Gloms, father of 15-year-old Jayden Gloms, on Feb. 21 filed a petition in Quay County District Court to appoint him as a personal representative of the estate of his deceased minor son “for the purposes of instituting a wrongful death action,” it states.
The petition states Gloms died on Jan. 24 “as a result of acts and omissions supporting a cause of action pursuant to the Wrongful Death Act.”
It states the act provides for a personal representative to serve as a nominal party who acts as a trustee for the beneficiaries in a wrongful-death action “to centralize and prevent multiple, possibly contradictory lawsuits.”
Jessica Hernandez of the Kennedy, Hernandez & Harrison PC law firm in Albuquerque filed the petition on Gloms’ behalf. A court date on hearing the petition had not been scheduled.
A partially redacted Tucumcari Police Department investigative report stated Jayden Gloms died after the Jeep he was riding in overturned while it was doing doughnuts, or drifting, at a firing range at Five Mile Park.
The report stated Jayden was hanging out the window and wasn’t belted into his passenger seat when the accident occurred. One of the passengers in the Jeep also asked the driver to slow down shortly before it crashed.
Some names were redacted in the report because they are juveniles. Several administrators and coaches at Tucumcari Public Schools reported four members from the high school basketball team were involved in the accident.
The local juvenile probation office was due to review the investigative report and meet with the boys and their parents. It then would make recommendations to the district attorney’s office on whether petitions should be filed.
District Attorney Timothy Rose said last week he had not received a report from the juvenile probation office.
Jayden’s funeral was held before hundreds of people at Rattler Gymnasium, and he was buried in Tucumcari Memorial Park cemetery.