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Four killed in wreck on Yadkinville Road
North Forsyth H.S. yearbook
Noe Marroquin, 15, was one of the victims of the wreck Tuesday night on Yadkinville Road.
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Published: September 3, 2008
Updated: 09/03/2008 07:10 pm
Four people were killed and two more hospitalized after a car crash on a bend in Yadkinville Road Tuesday night.
Police released their names this afternoon. Those killed are:
• Sergio Marroquin, 17, and Noe Marroquin, 15. The Marroquins are brothers.
• David Rojo, 24.
• Ivan Andrés, 18. Andrés and Rojo are cousins.
Ricardo Salgado, 18, was injured and is being treated at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, as is the driver, Geraldo Garcia Cruz, 18, of 3840 Yarbrough Ave.
Police said a press conference this afternoon that charges are pending against Garcia but that they had much more investigation to do before deciding on the appropriate charge.
Sgt. Jeff Stutts said police had yet to check Garcia's driving record to see if he had any past convictions, or whether he held a valid driver's license. He said police do not yet know where the six were before the wreck, nor do they have an estimate of how much over the speed limit of 45 mph the car was traveling.
The Marroquins and Andrés died at the scene, police said. Ambulances took Rojo and Garcia to Wake Forest University Baptist, where Rojo died.
"Any time we lose a young member of our society, that hurts us all," said Chief Scott Cunningham at a press conference this afternoon at the public-safety center. "We lose that potential — we don't know what they would have added to our society."
Police said that Garcia fled but was found about 8 a.m. this morning at his home, which is off Yadkinville Road and not far from the crash site, said police Capt. Bill Cobb.
Patrol officers canvassing the neighborhood found Garcia, Stutts said. He did not tell officers why he ran.
Stutts said police had a hunch the driver and passengers would live near each other. All six live within a mile-long stretch of Yarbrough.
Noe Marroquin was a sophomore at North Forsyth High School. Assistant principal Susan Hunt said she had seen him just a few weeks ago at the school's open house and that he was looking forward to a new year of school.
She said Noe had a problem last year with attendance but was a good, respectful student who always had a smile on his face.
"It's a shame to see a young life like that lost," she said. "He had so much ahead of him."
The crash happened just after 9 p.m. Tuesday on a stretch of road between Reynolda and Shattalon roads. Police said the men were in a 1992 Chevrolet Lumina, heading east on Yadkinville Road when Garcia ran off the road to the right, then overcorrected and went off to the left.
The car began spinning counter-clockwise and the passenger side hit the concrete wall that's part of the entrance to the Forsyth Memorial Park Cemetery.
Police Lt. Wilson Weaver said that beer cans were inside the car and strewn around the wreckage.
Police said at the press conference this afternoon that they were still trying to track down the car's owner.
An agent with N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement is investigating how the six got the alcohol, said Chet Jessup, an assistant supervisor for ALE's office in Greensboro. Jessup said there were no answers yet.
Cunningham said at the press conference that police will treat the case as they treat homicide cases, working to recreate all the facts and build a timeline.
"We all need to know what happened and why," Cunningham said. "Four people are dead by the actions that happened last night."
Ruth and James Benton have lived across from the crash site for 40 years. They said speeding and crashes have been a problem on the road for years.
"I thought I'd seen it all," Ruth Benton said. "In that 40 years, this is the worst I've seen."
James Benton said he heard the impact of the crash.
"It boomed like it was a big clap of thunder," he said.
Emergency crews cut the top off the car to get to the injured inside, he said. One of the victims was on the ground covered with a tarp.
"It was one hell of a mess," he said.
The car was destroyed in the crash, Benton said.
"It looked like you could have put it in a sack," he said. "I don't know how you could have gotten six people in it."
The crash was so violent that part of a mailbox at the cemetery entrance was thrown across the street into the Benton's yard.
The Bentons said they'd like to see something done to slow down speeders on the road.
"There needs to be more control here to stop some of this bull," James Benton said.
The four deaths bring the total number of traffic fatalities to 13 in Winston-Salem this year.
Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com.
Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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