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Amanda Serrano-Garcia

Age : 19

Gender : Female

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 02/01/2021

Location : NC Highway 11 at NC Highway 903

City : Kenansville

County : Duplin

State : North Carolina

Agency : North Carolina State Highway Patrol

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Passenger killed in police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

REASON FOR CHASE: A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper attempted to stop a Ford passenger vehicle for speeding on NC Highway 24 in Duplin County. The driver fled and the trooper pursued.
NARRATIVE:
On 02/01/2021, 19-year-old Amanda Serrano-Garcia of Lillington was killed with three other occupants when the vehicle in which she was a passenger crashed into a pond during a North Carolina State Highway Patrol pursuit in Duplin County.

At approximately 10:13 p.m., a state trooper attempted to stop the Ford passenger vehicle for speeding on NC Highway 24. The driver continued away from the trooper and a pursuit followed through Kenansville on Highway 24 before turning north onto NC Highway 11.

The subsequent Highway Patrol crash investigation determined that the vehicle reached speeds of approximately 110 mph during the pursuit and at times traveled with its headlights turned off.

At the intersection of NC Highway 11 and NC Highway 903, the driver continued through a stop sign and the Ford left the roadway. The vehicle struck a fence post and became airborne before landing upside down in a pond containing approximately 15 feet of water.

Investigators estimated that the Ford was traveling approximately 70 mph when it struck the fence and traveled approximately 132 feet through the air before entering the pond.

Five people were inside the Ford. Darien Wellington Gayle, 20, of Dunn, escaped before the vehicle submerged. The pursuing trooper threw a rescue rope into the pond and helped Gayle reach safety. Gayle was transported to Vidant Duplin Hospital with minor injuries.

Serrano-Garcia remained trapped inside the submerged vehicle with 20-year-old Jordan Southers of Angier, 17-year-old Geavon Myles of Magnolia and 21-year-old Tavius Carroll of Dunn. Search-and-rescue divers responded, and the Ford was subsequently recovered from the pond with all four deceased occupants inside.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol investigated the fatal pursuit crash. The 02/01/2021 Duplin County entry in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, documenting four fatalities, corresponds with this independently documented pursuit and the deaths of Serrano-Garcia, Southers, Myles and Carroll.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.witn.com/2021/02/02/four-people-trapped-inside-of-submerged-vehicle/
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article248972765.html
https://www.wral.com/story/four-killed-in-duplin-county-car-chase/19504993/
https://www.wwaytv3.com/four-dead-one-rescued-after-car-landed-in-duplin-county-pond-during-police-chase/