Thread: Witness recounts horror of crash

Witness recounts horror of crash
Her husband died and she lost her leg
By Todd Ruger
Published Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 2:26 a.m.

SARASOTA COUNTY — A woman relived the violent rollover car crash that killed her husband, telling a jury Tuesday how she was thrown more than 110 feet into the woods along Interstate 75 a year ago.

Tara Unger, 22, lost her lower left leg in the crash and needed crutches to walk past the jury in the DUI manslaughter case against Noe Juarez, 27.

Prosecutors say Juarez had a blood-alcohol level of 0.125 percent when his car struck the back of Thomas Unger's car on April 20, 2007. Florida drivers are considered intoxicated at 0.08 percent.

"I tried to get up, I couldn't get up, I couldn't move my arms or legs," Tara Unger said. "I just started screaming."

She lost all but six of her teeth, broke two vertebrae, has metal plates in her arm and face and was hospitalized for six weeks, spending part of that time in a drug-induced coma.

Thomas Unger, 22, was pinned under the car and died at the scene. The Ungers have two children, Cody, age 3, and James, 17 months. The boys were not in the car.

About two dozen family and friends came from Port Charlotte, where Tara Unger lives with the boys, to the courthouse in Sarasota to watch the weeklong trial, which began Monday.

In addition to DUI manslaughter, Juarez, a Mexican citizen, is charged with DUI with serious bodily injury and habitually driving on a suspended license, among other charges related to the crash.

Unger says she hopes he receives the maximum 30 years in prison if he is convicted of the charges.

Before testifying, Unger paused with friends and family to pray for strength after a heart-wrenching year.

The crash happened after Tara Unger drove to Tampa to pick up her husband, who had gone to New Orleans for his job but took a bus back to Tampa because their son was ill.

Tara Unger said she was reclining in the passenger seat when she heard her husband cry out, so she looked in the sideview mirror and saw rapidly approaching headlights.

Their car left the road and rolled over near North Port.

"The first thing I felt was my face just being smashed in," Tara Unger told the jury. "All the bones in my face were broken immediately."

Unger said Juarez did not have insurance, so she has been trying to raise her children on Social Security benefits.

"The hardest part for me is just mentally trying to keep myself together," Unger said outside the courtroom. "It's really hard to get up and put a smile on your face and be there for your kids like you want to be."

On the anniversary of the crash, the family released balloons with a note attached to each: "Don't drink and drive."

The trial's conclusion, Unger said, will help her recovery, even though she still faces numerous surgeries.

"I'm just now starting to pick my chin up."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20 ... ewssitemap

This story makes it evident that not only are lives lost, but lives are changed. This woman lost the father of her children, and she was maimed in the crash.