Originally posted to the web in News, on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 5:29 PM CDT.
Rollovers claim two young lives
By Janet DelTufo, Assistant Editor
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| Mayor Ron Badowski (left) presents Dallas “Rusty” Gant with the Henry Award. See more photos of the event on Page A-11. |
Two former Wickenburg High School graduates were killed last week just five hours apart in two separate vehicle rollover accidents.
The incidents, which took the lives of Abigail “Ava” Garcia and Vincent J. Mesteth (both 18), took place Wednesday, May 21.
Mesteth was killed at approximately 3:30 a.m. when the vehicle in which he was a passenger was involved in a rollover near Lake Pleasant. The driver of the vehicle was Costel C. Ivaniuc, 19, of Wickenburg. Two additional passengers were involved in the accident, including a 15-year-old Congress girl and a 12-year-old girl whose residence is unknown.
Mesteth was deceased at the scene, and the driver and the two females were transported to Valley hospitals.
According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) preliminary report, Ivaniuc was driving southbound on Castle Hot Springs Road when he lost control of the vehicle. He failed to come to a stop at the intersection of Castle Hot Springs Road and State Route 74.
The loss of control caused the vehicle to travel off the roadway into a section guardrail and then onto the dirt shoulder where the vehicle rolled.
It is still unknown what caused Ivaniuc to lose control of the vehicle, and the investigation by DPS continues. It is also unknown if safety restraints were used by any of the vehicle occupants.
Garcia, who was wearing a seat belt, was killed in a single-vehicle rollover accident at about 8:30 a.m. when the vehicle she was driving rolled an unknown number of times north of Indian School Road in the area of Wickenburg Road.
Garcia was on her way to the site of her future employer, and she died shortly after being transported by helicopter to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix. An investigation into the accident by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in under way.
A memorial in Garcia’s name is scheduled to take place at Coffinger Park Thursday (May 29) and will begin at 5 p.m.
Funeral services for Mesteth are taking place today (Wednesday, May 28) at the First Southern Baptist Church and will begin at 10 a.m. The address for the First Southern Baptist Church is 226 N. Madison St.
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