Concan visitor injured in 200-foot plunge in ATV

Thomas Garcia of Woodsboro sustained serious head injuries early Friday morning after the ATV he was traveling in rolled more than 200 feet downhill in Concan.

According to Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office investigator Mike Villarreal, several boulders at the edge of Cat Claw Mountain stopped the vehicle, which was carrying four people, from continuing down another 100-foot drop.

“They rolled into boulders. If the boulders wouldn’t have been there they would have gone over and dropped 100 feet down,” he said.

It took nearly three hours for first responders to locate the group.

UCSO Deputy Anthony Gonzales was dispatched to the remote area off Canyon Oaks Drive at approximately 3:51 a.m. Utopia Mountain Rescue was also dispatched.

Once the group was located, Gonzales spoke with Jessica Bingenheimer and Kendall Wendland, who each said they were seated in the back of the vehicle with seat belts when the driver, William Wendland, pulled on to the property to park the vehicle. All individuals are from Woodsboro.

UCSO said the property is being cleaned for construction and the group stopped on a hill of gravel.

Kendall Wendland said William Wendland exited the vehicle, and Thomas Garcia was attempting to exit when the vehicle’s front tires went over the gravel and slid downward.

Bingenheimer said William Wendland attempted to stop the vehicle but went down with it.

Garcia was taken by Uvalde EMS to University Hospital in San Antonio, where he remains in critical condition. The others refused medical care.

“He has a severe head injury,” Villarreal said.

Uvalde County Sheriff’s OfficeRescuers make their way to and from an ATV crash scene on Cat Claw Mountain. Four people were involved. Three refused treatment, but one passenger was taken by ambulance to University Hospital in San Antonio with head trauma.