http://www.dunndailyrecord.com/main.asp ... M=68278.17

9/14/2006 3:36:00 PM

Patrol Hits Roadblock In Fatality
By STEVE REED

And REECE MURPHY

Of The Record Staff

The N.C. Highway Patrol continues its investigation of a Johnston County van rollover Sunday which killed two passengers and injured at least six other people.

However, the probe is being hindered because the victims, all Mexican migrant workers, are reluctant to cooperate.

There were 14 to 18 people in the van at the time of the accident, all of them migrant workers.

The passengers live at a migrant camp located on T-Bar Road, off N.C. 50 South, about halfway between Benson and Newton Grove.

"The number of people involved is unknown because witnesses said some of the victims walked off and left the scene," Sgt. Clark White said.

The accident happened about 10 a.m., when the driver ran off the road and hit a ditch on N.C. 96 near Barrett Road, just outside Four Oaks.

Seven people were taken from the scene. Five victims were taken to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, and two were taken to WakeMed in Raleigh. One of the WakeMed patients stayed overnight; the other was treated and released.

The van rolled over twice, killing one man instantly. That victim has been identified as Moises Velasco Hernandez, 28, of Benson.

The second victim, who died at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, was identified as Eliceo Jiminez Santis, 16, also of Benson.

Sgt. White said a third passenger is in extremely critical condition.

"It's hard when none of the victims speak English," Sgt. White said. "They are frightened because they are afraid of deportation or other legal actions."

Sgt. White said troopers have spent two days in migrant labor camps interviewing people, trying to get information.

Trooper Chris Bell, the officer who worked the accident, spent the entire day yesterday at Pitt Memorial trying to get information from passengers, relatives and friends.

Jorge Lopez Garoso a passenger in the van said communication was a problem when talking to law enforcement.

"It's not that people don't want to talk," he said. "There's a communication problem. We can't understand them, they can't understand us."

Mr. Garoso said some of the workers speak a dialect from the Chiapas region and don't speak good Spanish.

Trooper Bell has been with the Highway Patrol for two and a half years and said this case has been unique.

"I've not been involved in an accident this severe, with all the complications," he said. "I have run into situations before where people have been reluctant to identify the driver."

Trooper Bell said the only thing he needs to complete his report is the driver's identity.

Mr. Garoso said he did not know the driver.

"He only comes on Sundays to take us to the store since we don't have cars," he said. "I've only seen him a few times.

Meanwhile, Mr. Garoso said the mood in the camp was subdued but workers had no choice but to go on with life.

"It was a very bad thing that happened and we're all very sad," he said. "But we're going to keep on working because that's what we're all here to do."

Anyone having information about the accident is asked to call the Highway Patrol office in Smithfield at (919) 934-2186, or (919) 733-3861 after business hours.