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Shiprock man facing charges after car collision

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One person died in a head-on collision that occurred north of Gallup on U.S. Highway 491 on May 20.

A Shiprock man, Jamison Woods, 45, is now facing federal involuntary manslaughter charges because of that accident which authorities said may have been an attempt to commit suicide.

Navajo police were dispatched to the 18-mile marker on U.S. Highway 491 about 1:45 pm after receiving several phone calls from passing motorists about a two-vehicle accident that occurred on the four-lane highway.

When police arrived, they found Woods in the driver’s seat of a 2017 GMC Sierra truck parked on the shoulder of the southbound lane. Another vehicle was parked nearby along the fence next to the highway. A man was seen doing CPR on a 19-year-old female who was lying on the ground.

The driver of the vehicle that was hit by Woods said she and her family were headed to Gallup. She said she saw cars in front of her start going off the roadway. Then she described a truck coming at her. She was unable to avoid it.

She said she was later pulled out of her vehicle by her brother and was unable to stand or feel her leg. She and her brother were transported to a Gallup hospital by ambulance.

J. W., a relative of Woods’, said Woods had made several suicidal comments during the past few years.

Woods has told some family members in April that he was using meth, according to J. W., who added that he had lost between 50 and 60 pounds in body weight over the past couple of months.

FBI officials said they also talked to A. W. who said she had received a phone call from Woods earlier on the day of the accident. He told her he was sorry for all the trouble he had caused and wanted to say goodbye.

He then told her God was waiting for him.

Family members said that in recent days Woods had begun showing an increased interest in suicide, saying no one loved him. He had also expressed an interest in having a head-on with a diesel truck. It had gotten worse, they said, after he was laid off because of the novel coronavirus.