2 die, 2 hurt in car accident

Two persons died while two others were injured, one critically, when their car slammed into a power pole in front of the Joeten Kiyu Public Library in Susupe early yesterday morning.

Haidee Garcia, a waitress at Godfather’s Bar, and Ronald Carreon, a computer technician at I-Tech, were declared dead at the Commonwealth Health Center, Saipan Tribune learned from witnesses.

Rose Ann Bautista, a waitress at Godfather’s Bar, was reportedly still in critical condition at CHC’s intensive care unit as of yesterday afternoon.

Joel Tagalicud, 30, a guitarist of the band Fat Joy Slim, suffered injuries to the mouth and different parts of the body.

All four victims are Filipinos.

Tagalicud told Saipan Tribune that all four of them were in the car being driven by Garcia.

Tagalicud said he and Bautista were both in the back, while Carreon was in the front passenger side.

He said they had just come from Club V and were on their way home aboard Garcia’s vehicle.

While cruising Beach Road, Garcia was reportedly crying as she was having problems with her boyfriend.

While approaching the intersection of Insatto Street near the Joeten Kiyu Public Library, Tagalicud said that Garcia suddenly turned the steering wheel to the right, causing the car to slam into the utility pole.

The strong impact caused the pole to fall to the ground. The damage to the car was extensive.

“She suddenly turned the wheel to the right. I then blacked out. The next thing I knew I was already in a hospital bed,” Tagalicud said.

He said he was not supposed to ride in Garcia’s car, but that he had forgotten his guitar and had to go back to Club V to get it.

Alcohol was possibly a factor in the accident. The Department of Public Safety has yet to release information about the incident.

Garcia and Carreon are the sixth and seventh fatalities of vehicular accidents in the CNMI this year. All deadly crashes happened on Saipan.

In July, a Chuukese man died when a vehicle hit him along Beach Road in San Jose.

Last June 22, a Yapese man died when his car ran off the roadway and slammed into a drainage bridge along Tun Joaquin Doi Road in Finasisu. Alcohol was reportedly involved in the accident.

On May 4, Grande C. Nonan, 41, a Filipino, died in a vehicular hit and run incident along Isa Drive in Sadog Tasi. Nonan and a friend were walking uphill along the shoulder of the road when a sports utility vehicle coming in the opposite direction hit him.

On April 19, a 10-year-old boy died when a bicycle he was driving collided with a vehicle in lower Dandan Homestead.

Last Feb. 8, a 65-year-old Chinese man died when a pickup truck struck him as he was crossing Middle Road in Garapan.