DPS spokeswoman Lei Ogumoro said 22-year-old Rose Ann O. Bautista succumbed to internal bleeding and other fatal injuries at around 1 a.m.
The other fatalities were 35-year-old Ronald Carreon, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Commonwealth Health Center at 3:03 a.m. on Nov. 16 due to head trauma and other severe injuries.
Hydee G. Garcia, 26, the driver of the green 1997 Crown Victoria Ford, was pronounced dead at 4:16 a.m. on Nov. 16 from head trauma and other severe injuries.
The fourth passenger, 30-year-old Joel O. Tagalicud, is recuperating from multiple abrasions, lacerations and bruises to the body at CHC.
Ogumoro said DPS received a report of an auto crash that occurred along Beach Road Susupe by the Joeten Shopping Center at 2:06 a.m. on Sunday.
She said traffic, patrol units, investigators and medics were immediately dispatched to the scene.
Preliminary reports showed that the car, operated by Garcia, was traveling north on the outer lane along Beach Road Susupe in front of the Joeten Shopping Center when the operator lost control of the vehicle and the car veered sharply to the right.
The car went off the main road and collided into a Commonwealth Utilities Corp. power pole located at the shoulder along the traffic signal light intersection.
Ogumoro said the weather was cloudy at that time but the road surface, including the shoulder, was dry.
“Based on preliminary investigation, Garcia was the cause of the crash and was in violation of CNMI Vehicle Code Title 9 sub section 5301(c),” Ogumoro said.
She said the law states that “it is unlawful to operate any vehicle or bicycle upon any highway which has been divided into two or more lanes by barriers or by dividing section of not less than two feet in width… and to operate any vehicle over, upon, or cross any dividing section, or to make any left turn or semicircular or U-turn on any such divided highway, except through an opening in the barrier designed and intended by proper authorities for the use of vehicles or through a plainly marked opening in the dividing section.”
According to Ogumoro, “The investigation shows that Garcia was in violation of traffic laws because she drove the vehicle off the main highway.”
She said alcohol and speed were factors in this crash.
Investigation is still ongoing.
The vehicle suffered extensive damage and is now at the DPS compound.
Ogumoro said there have been eight traffic fatalities in the CNMI this year.
“Three of the fatalities were auto-pedestrians, one of which was an auto-bicycle, and four were a result of vehicles hitting fixed objects from two separate cases/incidents,” she said.
Tragic end
Friends of the victims held a Mass at the Mt. Carmel Cathedral at 7 p.m. on Sunday before they proceeded to CHC where they prayed for Bautista.
Tagalicud and Bautista were in the rear seats of the car while Carreon was in the front passenger seat.
The four, with other friends who boarded other vehicles, just came from Club V and were on their way home.
Variety learned that Garcia was crying while she drove at high speed.
Garcia and Bautista worked as waitresses at the Godfather’s Bar.
The brother of Palau Horizon senior reporter Bernadette H. Carreon, Ronald Carreon was a computer technician of I-Teck, while Tagalicod is a guitarist of the Fat Joy Slim band.
Ronald Carreon’s wife will give birth to their second child next month.
