Police charge driver in fatal Los Alamos crosswalk crash

Los Alamos police filed charges in Los Alamos Magistrate Court against Ernesto Dominic Abeyta, 39, of Manassa, Colorado, in the March 15 crash that killed Brian Easton, 68, of Los Alamos. The case now moves into the court process after a death that has kept attention fixed on pedestrian safety, crosswalk visibility and accountability at one of the town’s familiar walking corridors.

Abeyta was charged with careless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Officers from the Los Alamos Police Department and medics from the Los Alamos Fire Department were dispatched about 11 a.m. on March 15 to North Road and Urban Street, where the crash involved a pedestrian and a vehicle. Easton’s death resonated deeply because he was not just another victim in a traffic case, but a longtime Los Alamos educator with decades of ties to Los Alamos High School.

That role has been publicly remembered in other ways as well. The Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation created a memorial scholarship in Easton’s name and said he taught at Los Alamos High School for more than 25 years. In a town where many residents know one another through classrooms, school events and civic life, the legal filing gives formal shape to a loss that has already been felt far beyond the roadway.

County officials have also responded at the crash site itself. Los Alamos County said on June 3 that North Road and Urban Street would become a four-way stop intersection, with new pavement markings and temporary signs installed that day and permanent traffic signs scheduled for early the following week. That move placed the crossing at the center of a broader local push to make it easier and safer to move around Los Alamos on foot.

The Easton case arrives as county leaders continue work under a Pedestrian Master Plan adopted in 2025 to improve safety, connectivity and accessibility in the townsite and White Rock Town Center. It also comes against a statewide backdrop that remains grim: New Mexico recorded 94 pedestrian fatalities in 2024, down from 108 in 2023, yet still reported one of the nation’s highest pedestrian fatality rates in 2025.