A Sahuarita High School student who was killed when she drove a car off the road Tuesday afternoon has been identified as 16-year-old Elizabeth Brakke, an official said.
Her passengers — Angelica Fredrickson, 16; Brittany Jaeger, 15; and 17-year-old Angelica Vindiola — suffered non life-threatening injuries and were admitted to University Medical Center for treatment.
All of the girls are juniors at Sahuarita High but it is unclear what they were doing off campus or if they had gone to school when the accident occurred just before 1 p.m. on Interstate 19 at the Sahuarita Road exit.
The girls were in a late 1980s Honda Civic that was heading north when the driver — Brakke — failed to negotiate a turn and veered from the off ramp, Mehr said. The car ran into the desert, became airborne over a wash and struck a bank of the wash head on.
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Seat belts were not being used by the Brakke, who died at the scene, or by Jaeger who was sitting in the right rear passenger seat, Mehr said. Fredrickson, who was sitting in the front passenger seat was wearing her seatbelt, she said. It is unknown if Vindiola was restrained.
Ronald Chacon, a construction worker and father of two, was driving home when he spotted Fredrickson falling out of the car’s window, he said.
“I was getting off the freeway, going home from work, and I happened to look down and saw something moving,” he said. “I stopped right away and asked ‘do you need help?’ and she said ‘yes.’ ”
Fredrickson had apparently made her way out of the vehicle and was trying to crawl away to get help, Chacon said.
Chacon, who had left his cell phone at home, ran back towards the road to flag down someone who could call 911. He then went back, along with another woman who pulled over, and did his best to keep the girls calm.
“The driver wasn’t responding at all and we couldn’t get a pulse,” Chacon said. “There were three girls that I knew were alive and I was talking to them, telling them to keep calm and that help was on the way,” Chacon said.
After the paramedics arrived, Chacon left.
“I’m just happy I was there to get help for them and that the three girls made it,” he said. “My heart is still beating fast and I feel sorry for the family of the girl who passed.”
The investigation as to whether factors, such as speed, caused the vehicle to veer off the road is under investigation, Mehr said.
A counselor support team was mobilized for students and staff when the school district learned that students were involved in the accident, said Assistant Superintendent Manuel Valenzuela.
Valenzuela said that school begins at about 8:30 a.m. and lets out at 3:30 p.m. He added that the campus is closed and that students are not allowed to leave for lunch.
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