Crash victim identified
By John Joyce
Published in News on March 7, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus file photo
Firefighters and rescue personnel work to free victims in Wednesday's accident.
The N.C. State Highway Patrol has identified a woman who died from injuries sustained in an early morning accident Wednesday.
Carmen Sanchez, 51, had moved to Goldsboro from Guatemala only three months ago. She died after being ejected through the rear window of a 2001 Toyota Corolla when the vehicle was struck by an oncoming truck. Her daughter, Maria Lopez-Cabrera, 28, was also ejected and suffered a brain injury. Neither woman was wearing a seat belt.
Trooper Mike Conley said the driver of the Toyota, Floridana Vasquez, 32, of Seven Springs, stopped behind another vehicle at the stop sign at the intersection of Ditchbank and Dollard Town roads. When the lead car crossed the intersection, Ms. Vasquez followed without yielding to traffic.
Ms. Vasquez, Ms. Lopez-Cabrera, and a third passenger, Fidelina Velasquez, 28, were all taken to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville with non-life threatening injuries.
Ms. Sanchez, initially thought to be dead at the scene, was found to have a slight pulse, emergency workers said. She was later pronounced dead at Wayne Memorial Hospital.
The driver of the 2004 Ford F-250 that struck the Toyota, 57-year-old Russel Gordon of Goldsboro, was not injured and was not at fault.
Conley said Ms. Vasquez would be charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and failure to yield.
"If they had used restraints, that could have knocked down the severity of this crash," he said.