The crash on Lynn Road last fall killed Juana Maria Cardona-Alvaraz of Raleigh and seriously injured Hiroshi Arakawa, a native of Japan who was studying in the bluegrass program at East Tennessee State University.
A witness told police that a teen motorist appeared to be racing on Lynn Road moments before the accident in late November that killed a 22-year-old woman and gravely injured her boyfriend, a budding bluegrass musician.
The crash killed Juana Maria Cardona-Alvaraz, 22, of Open Sight Court in Raleigh and seriously injured Hiroshi Arakawa, a 25-year-old native of Japan who was studying in the bluegrass program at East Tennessee State University.
Arakawa spent 10 weeks in the hospital recovering after the accident, nearly half the time with a trachea tube.
The accident happened on Nov. 24. Raleigh Senior Officer E. J. Moore obtained a search warrant on Dec. 9 to recover an event-data recorder from a 2007 Toyota Sequoia driven by Nicholas Alberto Rivera-Rubio of Gatewood Ridge Court in Garner.
Rivera-Rubio, 18, was not charged at the time of the crash. An accident report of the wreck indicated that Alvarez’s Honda “failed to see its way clear” before it turned into the path of the Toyota.
Moore is continuing his investigation of the crash, police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan said Thursday.
Moore used the search warrant to review the speed the SUV was traveling before the crash as well as braking, steering and seat belt use, according to a search warrant filed Wednesday at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office.
The accident happened around 6: 45 p.m. at the intersection of Lynn Road and Battleford Drive. Rivera-Rubio was driving the Sequoia west on Lynn Road, with two unnamed juveniles in the SUV. All three were wearing seat belts, Moore reported.
Alvarez was driving a 2001 Honda Civic, while Arakawa was riding in the front seat. They were both wearing seat belts, too. Moore stated that the Honda was turning left from southbound Battleford Drive onto Lynn Road when the Toyota struck the car from behind. Alvarez died instantly.
The witness told police that Rivera-Rubio was “tailgating” her vehicle while traveling north on Creedmoor Road. The motorist told police that the Toyota was attempting to pass a silver sedan and sped off from a traffic light at Creedmoor and Lynn roads at a high rate of speed.
The witness told police that the sedan would not allow Rivera-Rubio’s Toyota to merge in the right lane and the vehicles appeared to be racing, according to the search warrant.
The Toyota appeared to be traveling about 50 mph when the vehicles collided. Alvarez’s Honda was going 15 mph, according to the accident report. The posted speed limit along the road is 45 mph.
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