A motorcycle passenger was killed and the motorcycle’s driver was critically injured in a crash early Sunday, September 13, 2026, in unincorporated Ector County near Odessa, Texas. The collision happened around 12:20 a.m. near the intersection of East Cottonwood Road and Lariat Trail, when a Chevrolet Camaro traveling in front of the motorcycle moved into the outside westbound lane before making an abrupt, unsafe U-turn back across the inside lane. The Harley-Davidson motorcycle, riding directly behind the Camaro, could not avoid the sudden maneuver and struck the car. The passenger, identified as 26-year-old Mindi Lane Harris of Burnet, was pronounced dead at the scene; neither she nor the motorcycle’s driver was wearing a helmet. The motorcycle’s driver, 39-year-old Ryan Adam Meighen of Gardendale, was taken to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa with serious injuries, and the Camaro’s driver, 22-year-old Austin Xavier Berjarano of Midland, was treated for minor injuries.
The Odessa American reported that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers responded to the scene and that neither the motorcycle’s driver nor its passenger was wearing a helmet in the crash. KOSA’s First Alert 7 confirmed the timeline, location and vehicles involved, reporting that the Camaro had drifted into the outside lane to widen its turning radius before its abrupt U-turn put it back in the motorcycle’s path. The outlet said the case remains under investigation by DPS and that no further details have been released. Neither outlet reported any road closures connected to the crash.
