UPDATED! Sahuarita High student dies in accident

A female Sahuarita High School student died this afternoon at the scene of a one-car crash at I-19 and Sahuarita Road, and three other girls were being taken to hospitals, police said.

The Honda Civic was taking the northbound Sahuarita Road off ramp when, for unknown reasons it failed to negotiate the curve and ran off the road, Department of Public Safety officer Quentin G. Mehr said. The car than ran through a right of way fence, crossed a trench alongside the road, then ran through a second fence. The driver of the vehicle was trapped in the vehicle and died at the scene. Three passengers were taken by ground ambulance to University Medical Center for treatment, Mehr said.

The car went off the ramp at 12:52 p.m., and the ramp was closed temporarily.

No identification was available, pending notification of next of kin.

Sahuarita Police Lt. Henry Leyva said the four occupants were female students at the high school. The car rolled and one girl was ejected, as the car may have tried to make the turn to the off-ramp too late, Leyva said.

The driver and front seat passenger were not wearing seat belts at the time of the collision, DPS said. It was not known if the two backseat passengers had belts on. .

The investigation will be handled by DPS and the Sahuarita Police Department was handling traffic and other support duties.

Top school officials went to the scene and dispatched counselors to the scene and to the high school. They were planning to supplement school counselors with some from Northwest Fire District Wednesday morning, Superintendent Jay St. John said.

“It’s a tragedy, always, when you have 16-year olds. They have great reflexes, but lack the judgment of an older person,” St. John said.

School officials told students through the internal high school television system that there had been an accident but were awaiting official confirmation of the identities of those involved.

“We don’t have much information. We’ll let them know as soon as we can. We told them they are to remain in class today and at the end of the day we will do counseling and develop a plan for tomorrow [Wednesday],” St. John said.

Assistant Superintendent Manny Valenzuela was coordinating media relations for the school district.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738

Read more in Wednesday’s Sahuarita Sun or Green Valley News