http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_90543.asp


August 7, 2006





Illegal Alien Charged In Traffic Death To Be Deported
Family Of Victim Favored Allowing Her To Stay In U.S.
posted August 7, 2006

An illegal alien charged with running into a house on 45th Street and causing the death of a 91-year-old woman will be deported.

However, prosecutor Jay Woods said the family of the victim had wanted Vitalina Bautista Vargas to be allowed to stay in the U.S. She has a child and a husband here.

"They wanted one of the conditions to be that she learn how to drive," the prosecutor said.

Prosecutor Wood said federal officials insisted that she be deported. He said as a convicted felon, she will not be allowed to apply to re-enter the country for at least 10 years.



Ms. Vargas entered a guilty plea in Criminal Court to vehicular homicide. She was given four years probation.

Ms. Vargas was allowed to hug her husband in court, and they had a tearful farewell.

Louella Winton was asleep in her bed when a car crashed into her house on 45th Street. She died later in a local hospital.

Police said it was first thought that her injuries might not be life threatening, but she had some complications arise due to her injuries.

Charges against Ms. Vargas then were upgraded.

The vehicle knocked the victim through the bedroom wall and threw her against the wall of the house next door. Chattanooga firefighters pulled her from the debris, and handed her over to paramedics with Hamilton County EMS, which transported her to Erlanger Medical Center.



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