A 15-year-old Tahoka teen, Truett Mortensen, was killed Saturday afternoon after a Polaris Ranger Crew ATV overturned on a curve along County Road 438 in Kent County. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the vehicle was being driven by a 14-year-old who was going too fast for road conditions. The ATV flipped, ejecting Truett and pinning him underneath. He was pronounced dead at Fisher County Hospital a little under three hours later.
Two other passengers—a 14-year-old driver and a 7-year-old child—were not injured. None of the three were wearing seatbelts. Which is less shocking information and more of a grim checkbox on the “how these stories usually end” bingo card.
New Home Independent School District confirmed Truett was one of their students and released a heartfelt statement describing him as kind, spirited, and deeply loved. The district says additional grief counselors will be available as students return from winter break, because nothing says “welcome back to school” quite like collective trauma and a quiet desk where a kid should be sitting.
Meanwhile, the broader facts remain painfully familiar to anyone who’s lived in West Texas for more than five minutes: young teens, an ATV, a rural road, too much speed, no restraints, and consequences nobody can undo. We’ll mourn, we’ll pray, we’ll donate, and then—if history is any guide—we’ll go right back to pretending this was some unforeseeable freak accident instead of the same preventable setup playing on repeat.
How many times does the same story have to run before we stop acting surprised by the ending?
https://www.kcbd.com/2026/01/05/new-home-isd-student-killed-kent-county-atv-crash/
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/tahoka-teen-dead-after-atv-crash-in-kent-county/
https://www.kcbd.com/2026/01/06/community-holds-candlelight-vigil-teen-killed-atv-crash/