Woman broadsided in Des Moines crash now brain dead
Nov 20, 2012, 7:55 AM | Updated: 10:33 am
A woman severely injured in a neighborhood car crash last week in Des Moines is now brain dead.
Brenda Gomez-Zapata, 25, was driving four relatives to a birthday party Nov. 10 when her car was hit broadside by a luxury car that ran a stop sign. A witness estimates the other driver was going 70 miles per hour on a street posted at 40 mph.
Gomez-Zapata’s teenage brother also suffered a traumatic brain injury.
King County Sheriff’s investigators say Chinese national Yichun Xu was not licensed and had never driven in the U.S. His four passengers were not seriously hurt.
The 19-year-old student at Puget Sound Community College student is jailed on bail of $2 million and The Seattle Times reports the prosecutor in his case promises to increase the charge against Xu to vehicular homicide.
