Note of press, case of Valeria Sonely Torres Rodriguez

ENTRAL FLORIDA The Area In Brief

Woman dies in crash on Semoran

February 22, 2008

ORLANDO - Orlando police identified Valeria S. Torres-Rodriguez as the victim of a fatal accident on Semoran Boulevard on Thursday.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said, "Torres-Rodriguez had been drinking prior to the accident."

The crash shut down the roadway at Semoran Boulevard and Yew Drive, just north of the East-West Expressway, for nearly five hours.

Torres-Rodriguez, 20, of Casselberry was driving north on Semoran Boulevard at a high speed sometime before 3:30 a.m. as Tran Q. Thanh, 19, of Orlando was driving south on Semoran, police said.

At some point near Yew Drive in the Azalea Park neighborhood, Torres-Rodriguez's Mitsubishi Eclipse crossed over a median and into the path of Thanh's Hummer H2.

The Hummer flipped and the Eclipse kept going until it hit a building, Jones said.

Rescue crews took Torres-Rodriguez to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she died, Jones said. Thanh suffered a minor injury.

It was the eighth traffic death this year in Orlando, records show.



Banca Prieto, Walter Pacheco, Christine Show, Gabrielle Finley and Rene Stutzman of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-cfbriefs22_208feb22,0,849877.story?track=rss