Woman & Unborn Child Die in Wreck: Landis, NC

Charlotte Observer ^ | 2/7/07 | Steve Lyttle

[Shannon]

A young Rowan County woman and her unborn baby have died as a result of injuries suffered in a collision Tuesday afternoon with a driver being followed by police.

Authorities in Rowan County say the driver was not being chased -- merely followed.

The victim was Leanna Newman, 20, of Salisbury.

The wreck happened on Main Street in Landis.

Police in Landis say the incident began unfolding in Kannapolis, however, where officers say they noticed a red Jeep -- driven by Rigo Berto Guillen Martinez, 33 -- being operated erratically. Police say the Jeep crossed the center line and was weaving.

Police say they began following the Jeep. Witnesses told WCNC-TV, the Observer's news partner, that the Jeep struck several vehicles before hitting the Saturn driven by Newman.

The collision happened on Main Street in Landis. Newman's car overturned several times after being hit.

Newman, her 3-year-old daughter and Martinez all were transported to North East Medical Center in Concord initially, but Newman and Martinez were transferred Tuesday evening to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Newman and her unborn baby died overnight.

Martinez is in fair condition this morning.

Police say Newman's 3-year-old daughter was not seriously injured.

Investigators will have three issues to sort through today -- whether alcohol was involved; Martinez's status in the United States; and whether the death was the result of a police chase.

According to WCNC, Martinez had a Mexican driver license but not a N.C. license. Police have not said if alcohol was involved, or whether Martinez was in the United States legally.

Authorities also are expected to investigate whether police were chasing Martinez, although Landis officials said Tuesday that no high-speed pursuit was taking place. There have been several cases in recent months in which motorists being pursued by police struck and injured other motorists.

[Shannon]

According to WCNC, Martinez had a Mexican driver license but not a N.C. license. Police have not said if alcohol was involved, or whether Martinez was in the United States legally.

The poor woman and her family. Too awful.

[Dustbunny]

Truly tragic. Prayers for her family.

[conservativeharleyguy]

Mexicans: Just killing the people that Americans don't want to kill.

[GBA]

A Charlotte morning radio program was making the distinction between a police pursuit and the police following a suspect, as people believe the police are responsible if they pursue a suspect and the suspect crashes and kills someone. The world is insane. Prayers for the woman and family. She was much too young.

[pikachu]

I'd love to be in the room when the dead woman's husband asks the chief of police why they didn't stop the Jeep earlier

[Tax-chick]

A very sad situation. Wear your seatbelts, people.

[Charles Martel]

No doubt there will soon be responses posted, opining that the at-fault driver's illegal immigrant status had nothing do do with the accident and that basically, that young woman was as good as dead when she rolled out of bed that morning... *someone* would've collided with her, even if that Mexican was still south of the border. I wish I was joking, but that is exactly what someone dared to post in the thread on the recent Atlanta-area traffic fatality.

[Niteranger68]

Rigo Berto Guillen Martinez

Just what's going to happen when we've had enough of this $hit??? It's about time to get a little racist with this group of people. If the Latino's don't like it, they can fix THEIR people and not worry about ours.

[stopem]

"According to WCNC, Martinez had a Mexican driver license

Yet another case of a mexican (possibly illegal)causing death and destruction in this country!

[bondjamesbond]

Don't even need to say it. We all know it.

[csmusaret]

How far is it from Kannapolis to Landis?

[GoDuke]

"According to WCNC, Martinez had a Mexican driver license but not a N.C. license."

In N.C., is there a difference?

Prayers for the family.

[Hildy]

Mexicans: Just killing the people that Americans don't want to kill.

Yea, Americans NEVER get drunk and kill people. So stupid

[conservativeharleyguy]

"Yea, Americans NEVER get drunk and kill people..."

Never said they don't. Of course they do. Quite often. But certainly not in this case.

I think maybe you're deflecting and projecting....so stupid.

[conservativeharleyguy]

Maybe your comment deserves a bit more of a reasoned response. I'll let this article, posted on WorldNetDaily.com, November 28, 2006 by Joseph Farah, speak for itself.

INVASION USA" Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily. Death toll in 2006 far overshadows total U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – While the military "quagmire" in Iraq was said to tip the scales of power in the U.S. midterm elections, most Americans have no idea more of their fellow citizens – men, women and children – were murdered this year by illegal aliens than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since those military campaigns began.

Though no federal statistics are kept on murders or any other crimes committed by illegal aliens, a number of groups have produced estimates based on data collected from prisons, news reports and independent research.

Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens. That's 21,900 since Sept. 11, 2001.

Total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq as of last week were reported at 2,863. Total U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan during the five years of the Afghan campaign are currently at 289, according to the Department of Defense.

But the carnage wrought by illegal alien murderers represents only a fraction of the pool of blood spilled by American citizens as a result of an open border and un-enforced immigration laws.

While King reports 12 Americans are murdered daily by illegal aliens, he says 13 are killed by drunk illegal alien drivers – for another annual death toll of 4,745. That's 23,725 since Sept. 11, 2001.

While no one – in or out of government – tracks all U.S. accidents caused by illegal aliens, the statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests many of last year's 42,636 road deaths involved illegal aliens.

A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers.

Statistically, that makes them an even greater danger on the road than drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked – and nearly as dangerous as drunk drivers.

King also reports eight American children are victims of sexual abuse by illegal aliens every day – a total of 2,920 annually.

Based on a one-year in-depth study, Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes Institute of Atlanta estimates there are about 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States who have had an average of four victims each. She analyzed 1,500 cases from January 1999 through April 2006 that included serial rapes, serial murders, sexual homicides and child molestation committed by illegal immigrants.

As the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. increases, so does the number of American victims.

According to Edwin Rubenstien, president of ESR Research Economic Consultants, in Indianapolis in 1980, federal and state correctional facilities held fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens. But at the end of 2003, approximately 267,000 illegal aliens were incarcerated in all U.S. jails and prisons.

While the federal government doesn't track illegal alien murders, illegal alien rapes or illegal alien drunk driving deaths, it has studied illegal aliens incarcerated in U.S. prisons.

In April 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a report on a study of 55,322 illegal aliens incarcerated in federal, state, and local facilities during 2003.

It found the following:
The 55,322 illegal aliens studied represented a total of 459,614 arrests – some eight arrests per illegal alien;

Their arrests represented a total of about 700,000 criminal offenses – some 13 offenses per illegal alien;

36 percent had been arrested at least five times before.

"While the vast majority of illegal aliens are decent people who work hard and are only trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, (something you or I would probably do if we were in their place), it is also a fact that a disproportionately high percentage of illegal aliens are criminals and sexual predators," states Peter Wagner, author of a new report called "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration." "That is part of the dark side of illegal immigration and when we allow the 'good' in we get the 'bad' along with them. The question is, how much 'bad' is acceptable and at what price?"

[csvset]

How far is it from Kannapolis to Landis?

From what this map says, about 5 miles or so.

Map

[csmusaret]

Thanks. Depending on where the incident started and ended, it could have been a very short distance.