Thread: Driver in fatal head-on Somers crash in U.S. illegally, police say

Probe continues in accident that killed man, 82

Aug. 29, 2013 7:36 PM
lohud.com


This is the Hyundai Sonata that Elaine Mazzeo of Somers was driving on Route 118 when it was hit head-on by a Toyota Tundra pickup, killing her 82-year-old passenger. / Terence Corcoran/The Journal News

SOMERS — A man in the country illegally was driving his boss’ pickup truck without a license when he swerved into oncoming traffic and slammed into a car head-on, killing a Somers man, state police said.

Tomas Salguera-Ramirez, a 30-year-old from Guatemala living in Patterson, is now under investigation and facing potential deportation after police alerted the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Police said Salguera-Ramirez had just finished lunch in Mahopac on Tuesday and was returning to a job site in Yorktown, driving a Toyota Tundra owned by his boss, Cesar Martinez of Brewster.

He was heading south about 2 p.m. on Route 118 when he swerved to avoid a vehicle that had stopped while waiting for another automobile to turn left onto Overhill Road, police said.

He clipped the rear corner of the first vehicle before plowing into a northbound Hyundai Sonata driven by Elaine Mazzeo, 70, of Somers, police said.

Dimitrios Caratzas, 82, her passenger, was rushed to Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel, where he died. Mazzeo was admitted with chest injuries to the same hospital, where she remained Thursday.

Salguera-Ramirez was treated for minor injuries and released.

Salguera-Ramirez was cited for unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, tailgating and failure to keep right, infractions. Police are continuing their probe, including reviewing Salguera-Ramirez’ cellphone records. They are also awaiting his blood test results, though Investigator Cornelius Merritt said there is no indication that alcohol was involved.

Merritt said the evidence indicates Salguera-Ramirez crossed the center line, and said, “There’s no indication of fault on anyone else’s part.”

It has not yet been determined whether Salguera-Ramirez will be charged criminally, police said.


A photo of the Toyota Tundra pickup that was involved in a crash on route 118. An 82-year old woman, who was a passenger in the car hit by the Tundra, was killed in the crash. / Terence Corcoran/The Journal News

Messages left for Martinez were not returned on Thursday.

A wake for Caratzas will be held from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Clark Associates Funeral Home in Katonah.

The funeral service will be held there at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The Tuesday crash has echoes of a June 2009 crash in Brewster in which a mother and her 8-year-old daughter were mowed down by a drunk, unlicensed driver as they left the girl’s dance class.

Lori Donahue, 37, and her daughter Kayla died when they were struck by a truck driven by Conses Garcia-Zacarias, who was living in the country illegally. Garcia-Zacarias drove drunk on the wrong side of Brewster’s Main Street before blowing through a T intersection at Routes 6 and 22 and hitting the pair as they left the Seven Stars School of Performing Arts.

Garcia-Zacarias pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide and is in state prison.

The crash outraged the community and rekindled an ongoing debate about illegal immigration and drinking and driving, and the local employment of people living in the country illegally.

http://www.lohud.com/article/2013082...news|text|News

This is the kind of stuff Rep Luis Gutierrez should be worrying about us seeing more of instead of worrying about illegals in the desert!

http://www.alipac.us/f9/dem-congress...-tears-286461/

Police said Salguera-Ramirez had just finished lunch in Mahopac on Tuesday and was returning to a job site in Yorktown, driving a Toyota Tundra owned by his boss, Cesar Martinez of Brewster.

I would hope they are checking the rest of Cesar Matinez' crew.