Creighton community mourns loss of 4 women killed in crash after their SUV swerved to avoid deer

[Omaha Steve]

TYLER MEYER/THE WORLD-HERALD
Kassandra Nolasco, 22, Elsa Barragan, 22, Magdalena Cazarez, 20, and Giselle Armendariz, 22, all members of the Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority at UNL, erect a memorial for the four Creighton students who were killed Saturday night in a car accident south of Beatrice on U.S. Highway 77. The four victims were members of Sigma Lambda Gamma's Tau Delta chapter at Creighton.

POSTED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2015 9:39 AM | UPDATED: 8:56 PM, SUN OCT 25, 2015.
By Kevin Cole / World-Herald staff writer

A Mass is being celebrated this evening at St. John’s Church on the Creighton University campus to honor the lives of four young women who were killed in a collision in Gage County on Saturday evening.

Akuel Majouk, Mariana Ramirez and Jennifer Guzman, all of Omaha, and Yoselin Deleon, of Bellevue, died in the crash. The 21-year-olds all had ties to Creighton University.

They died after the 2001 Honda CRV they were in swerved to miss a deer. The two-vehicle crash occurred south of Beatrice on U.S. Highway 77 at about 7:30 p.m.

Three of the women were pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman. A fourth was taken by ambulance to Beatrice Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

FULL story at link.

[GGJohn]

1. R.I.P. to these 4 women.

[shenmue]

2. ...

[Codeine]

3. Never swerve to avoid an animal.

It's instinctive, I know. I dodged a dog once and wrapped my car around a tree, very nearly dying in the process. And I still ended up clipping the damned dog and killing him anyway.

[Kaleva]

8. Unless you are driving a motorcycle

[newfie11]

9. As someone that lives in deer, elk, and even buffalo country

I totally agree don't swerve.
I only hit one deer in my 50+ years of driving. Rural western SD roads don't give room to swerve.

[SharonAnn]

4. I got this a few hours ago from the Creighton Alumni group email list. So sad!

They sound like such accomplished young women and it's a real tragedy to lose them.

[Snobblevitch]

5. My 96 year old great aunt died

because her 73 year old daughter swerved in an attempt to not hit a deer. Their car rolled several times.

Please, if an animal darts out in front of you as you are driving, please release your foot from the accelerator and proceed cautiously.

I don't care if it's a deer, a baby duck, a gosling or a fawn. Hit the animal with your vehicle and save yourself, your passengers, and anyone else driving in the area.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. So sad

That almost happened to me today as I was driving on the freeway. It had been raining a lot and the freeway was slippery and wet. As I was driving, I saw from a distance the car in front had his breaks and saw a dog trying to cross so I slowed a bit. The dog scurried back to the side of the freeway and as I was about to drive past him, he attempted again to cross the freeway and I had to put on the brakes again. I prayed he would turn back, which he did. I just hope that the dog finally kept walking to get away from the freeway (as long as he stayed to his right) instead of trying to get to the other side even though he would have been stuck because there was the HOV lane in the center.

[kcr]

10. It's hard. We can remind ourselves but it happens so quickly

It's a reflexive reaction. Maybe part of driver's ed could be some kind of driver simulator that has that scenario for practice, to get the brain used to it, like a video game, so that reflexive action would be less likely to occur.

[NBachers]

7. *Sigh*