Rio Rancho fundraiser honors motorcyclist Dante Gallegos after deadly crash

Dante Gallegos’ name drew about a dozen car and motorcycle owners to Rio Rancho on May 30, where friends and family gathered for a fundraiser at Dulce River Bakery and Turquoise Desert Taproom to help support the 22-year-old’s relatives after his death on May 13. The event paired a memorial with a car and motorcycle show, and barbecue plates sold for $20 as community members stopped by to show support.

The setting matched the life Gallegos lived. Relatives and friends remembered him as someone who loved cars, worked in the automotive field and had been hoping to move from his job at Porsche/Audi in Albuquerque to a position at Lexus. His obituary says he also had been working at Tanoan Country Club in Albuquerque, had recently begun riding his motorcycle more actively over the past year and enjoyed hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, gaming, basketball and music.

Gallegos was born in Santa Fe on Jan. 1, 2004, and moved to Rio Rancho when he was 6 months old. He graduated from Cleveland High School. His obituary said he was preceded in death by his parents, Jerome and Amanda Gallegos, a loss that has made the grief especially heavy for a family with deep ties across the area.

Darlene Chee said the tragedy has hit hard because Gallegos was young, close to a large extended family and surrounded by friends who considered him family, too. Greg Montoya and Angela Cuban-Montoya helped organize the fundraiser with Armando Martinez, and Cuban-Montoya said Gallegos called her and Montoya mom and dad. Montoya said their son had been Gallegos’ best friend since second grade.

The modest turnout did not diminish the urgency behind the gathering. Chee said the pain is sharpened by how much life Gallegos still had ahead of him, and by the strain sudden deaths place on families trying to cover expenses after a crash. For his loved ones, the fundraiser became a way to turn a day of remembrance into immediate help for the people left behind.

The loss also landed amid a broader safety warning in Sandoval County. On May 13, the Sandoval County Commission recognized Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, and local officials said the month was being overshadowed by a run of motorcycle crashes in Rio Rancho, including four confirmed severe wrecks within days of one another and one death on May 13. County paralegal Angela Kuban urged drivers to look twice, slow down, put phones away and give riders space, while also reminding motorcyclists to wear helmets and gear.

The concern has only grown around NM 528. Regional reporting has described Gallegos’ death as the second fatal crash on that corridor in about six weeks, and state data showed the road had already claimed seven lives in 18 months. With Motorcycle Awareness Month ending May 31, Gallegos’ family and neighbors were left with a memorial that doubled as a warning that the danger on that stretch of road is far from abstract.