{"id":398515,"date":"2026-08-05T17:48:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T17:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398515\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T17:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T17:48:24","slug":"sisters-survive-wrong-way-crash-on-i-27-credit-good-samaritans-with-saving-their-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398515\/","title":{"rendered":"Sisters survive wrong-way crash on I-27, credit good Samaritans with saving their lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Two sisters who were seriously injured in a wrong-way crash<\/a> on Interstate 27 in late July say bystanders pulled them from their burning truck before flames could reach them.<\/p>\n

Alexis and Aaliyah Wallace were among four people seriously hurt in the crash. Lubbock police said Oscar Sotelo Jr. was driving the wrong way on I-27 near 66th Street when he struck two vehicles. Sotelo, a young child in his car, and a woman in another vehicle died in the crash.<\/p>\n

The sisters had just signed a lease to move in together and were on their way to pick up furniture on July 23 when the collision occurred. Alexis, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said she tried to swerve but the oncoming car struck their truck head-on. Both vehicles caught fire on the interstate.<\/p>\n

Alexis broke both feet and her neck. Aaliyah, a Texas Tech student and scoliosis advocate<\/a>, suffered several fractures and a shattered heel.<\/p>\n

The sisters said multiple bystanders, including Mario Carrillo, Sunny Davila and Brandon Bergaro, rushed to help before emergency crews arrived. One man bottomed out his truck before getting to them. Carrillo, who is waiting on a kidney donation, ran to the scene and helped pull them out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of them have kids. They\u2019ll have wives, they have families. And they were willing to run up to the truck that could have blown up to grab us,\u201d Aaliyah said.<\/p>\n

The sisters said the men and their families have since visited them and invited them into their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like, y\u2019all are ours now,\u201d Aaliyah said. \u201cThey\u2019re like, we\u2019ve nicknamed them. They\u2019re like, y\u2019all are \u2014 you\u2019re now part of our families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the crash, the sisters said support has come from online fundraisers and in-person events, including an enchilada plate fundraiser Tuesday night at Rachael\u2019s Restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the beauty in the community coming together \u2014 family, friends, strangers, our guardian angels, as we call them \u2014 just coming out in the masses to support such a tragic accident,\u201d Alexis said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s for everybody that was involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their mother, Kimberly Burk, said she is proud of how her daughters have responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust their attitude and their outlook on it. And instead of being angry and mad at the situation, they\u2019re reaching out and they\u2019re praying for people and they\u2019re telling their story and they\u2019re encouraging people,\u201d Burk said.<\/p>\n

Alexis remains hospitalized. Aaliyah has moved to a rehabilitation hospital. The sisters said they are leaning on each other through the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer journey\u2019s going to be a little longer than mine, but I\u2019ll be there every step of the way,\u201d Aaliyah said.<\/p>\n

To donate to the Wallace sisters\u2019 recovery click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a GoFundMe<\/a> for the family of the 2-year-old who died in the crash, and one for Jairon Foster<\/a>, 24, who was also seriously hurt.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Two sisters who were seriously injured in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 27 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[139879,35969,139878,7990,8581,2912,447,268,630,9405,16036,12948,139880,108569,168,170,169,139877,139875,139876,38353,2142,139874,979,120014],"class_list":["post-398515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-aaliyah-wallace","tag-alcohol","tag-alexis-wallace","tag-brittany-crittenden","tag-car","tag-collision","tag-community","tag-crash","tag-fire","tag-fundraiser","tag-good","tag-i-27","tag-kimberly-burk","tag-lives","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-oscar-sotelo-jr","tag-samaritans","tag-saving","tag-sisters","tag-support","tag-survive","tag-truck","tag-wrong-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}