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DWI Mom's Daughter: Stepdad Let Her Mom Drive Before Fatal Crash
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 14, 2009
Modified Oct 14, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 14, 2009
Modified Oct 14, 2009
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So sad: The daughter of the woman who allegedly drove drunk, crashing a car full of young girls on the West Side Highway and killing one, told WCBS 2 about the horrifying crash. The 1998 Mercury Sable, which was overloaded with driver Carmen Huertas and seven girls, overturned and then crashed into a tree; Huertas' 11-year-old daughter Brittany Gonzalez said, "All three girls in the back just flew out when the trunk popped open because it just popped open when we flipped once. My friend's seatbelt snapped. Leandra Rosado just flew out and she was the one in the woods."
Leandra Rosado, 11, died after the crash (a wake is being held for her today and tomorrow); Huertas, who was driving the girls from Chelsea back to the Bronx for a sleepover, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI. Little Brittany, speaking from her father's home in Chelsea, also said her stepfather Eduardo Henriquez let her mom drive—"He didn't do anything. He just took the baby and left."
Brittany's father and Huertas' ex Ernesto Gonzalez added that he noticed Huertas' condition—"She wasn't like drunk to the point of incapacitated, but I knew that the amount of liquor she drank, it was gonna hit her, it was gonna hit her sooner or later. It was gonna hit her especially on an empty stomach"— and told Henriquez about it, "He told me he had it. He said, 'I got it don't worry."
Ernesto Gonzalez also said that Henriquez prevented two other children (besides the baby) from getting into the five-passenger Sable, "There would've been three more kids in that car. He wasn't [thinking]. Nobody was. The fault is on everybody, you can't just blame one person... I didn't step up, you know, I'm sorry. I apologize to everybody from the bottom of my heart, you know?"
Tagged
Carmen Huertas
drunk driving
dwi
Leandra Rosado
west side highway
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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