#@$#@$ 189rd Official Hard at Work Thread
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From: Naples, FL
Originally Posted by WhrDLMI' date='Jan 27 2009, 10:46 AM
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From: Columbia, MD
Originally Posted by Turtle636' date='Jan 27 2009, 10:48 AM
Chicks ug....
Rosemary Tavarez (15) was killed in an auto accident 15 minutes after she phoned her boyfriend saying that she was scared of the erratic driver
Filed Under: Automobile Accident
Published: Jan 23, 2009 @ 2:10 PM
Rosemary Tavarez (15)
Date: Oct 29, 2006
Cause of Death: Auto Accident
Location: Bronx, NY
A beautiful teen, beloved by her family as their "little angel," was killed in a horrific SUV crash in Harlem yesterday - 15 minutes after she frantically phoned her boyfriend about the erratic driver, saying, "Baby, I'm so scared," according to cops and friends.
"This guy is driving so crazy. He almost crashed!" said Rosemary Tavarez, 15, according to her beau, Fernando Rodriguez, 18.
Rosemary's pal, Catherine Urena, 16, who had gotten out of the overcrowded, black Ford Explorer earlier because she feared something might happen, said Rosemary had been making the sign of the cross in the car and telling her, "Oh, my God! This is crazy!"
"She was nervous, holding on to my hand and squeezing it." Catherine recalled.
Rosemary and seven friends were riding in the SUV, returning to The Bronx from a birthday party in Washington Heights, at 1:41 a.m. when the driver, Martin Ramirez, 22, tried to make a left turn from Amsterdam Avenue to West 148th Street, authorities said. But given its speed and number of passengers, the vehicle flipped, landing on its roof.
The area is zoned for 35 mph, but cops said Ramirez was traveling at 68 mph.
The vehicle, which can seat only five safely, then slammed into a parked car, cops said.
Rosemary was partly ejected from the SUV - half her body hung out of a window - and killed. She was not wearing her seat belt at the time.
The driver and his six other passengers suffered minor injuries.
"When the car flipped over, it felt like slow motion," said Franklin Gomez, 17, who was in the SUV. "The car fishtailed and then flipped. I remember the car sliding while it was upside down."
The teen said that when he looked over at Rosemary, "she wasn't moving or anything."
Then "the cops put a white sheet over her."
Rosemary's relatives were beside themselves with grief.
"She was perfect. We loved her, and we will always love her," said cousin Zeanitt Garcia, 16. "She was just a little angel. She was so loveable. Everywhere she went, everyone loved her."
Her uncle, Jorge Garcia, said: "She was young. She was sweet. She was only 15 years old. She didn't deserve this."
Rosemary's body was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where her 40-year-old mother, identified by relatives as Rosa, a city bus driver, began weeping hysterically as doctors broke the news.
"It's her only daughter," Garcia said. "It's like her world has ended. There's nothing we can do to save [Rosemary]."
Relatives said Rosemary's father, Celio, 52, had been shot in the face in 2003 during a mugging while working at a Harlem bodega. He had spent two months at St. Luke's recovering from his wounds, but his jaw was left permanently smashed, and he can eat only through a feeding tube.
"He spent three years recovering. For this to happen to him is just too much," said Luz Escarraman, the girl's aunt and the sister of her mother.
The father was at home, being comforted by Rosemary's brothers, Armando, 19, and Emmanuel, 11, shattered relatives said.
Escarraman added sadly: "The kids who were sitting next to Rosemary in the car are walking around with little Band-Aids, but my niece is dead."
Still, she noted that the girl might "be alive today" if she had worn her seat belt.
Ramirez was given summonses for speeding and operating an overcrowded vehicle.
Friends and relatives said Rosemary, a junior at Aquinas HS, had dreamed of becoming a model and donned fashions for a Bronx gym teacher who designs clothing.
"She always told me that was her dream. She said ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be a model," Rodriguez said.
"She was great, kind, caring, very sensitive," he said, choking back tears.
Rosemary was just a few weeks shy of celebrating her 16th birthday. Her parents were planning to throw a Sweet 16 party for her in the Bahamas or Mexico.
