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Crash Claims 4th Victim

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

October 31, 2007 (WPVI) -- A fourth person is dead because of a grinding crash Monday night in Newark.

Delaware State Police investigators report the driver of the Honda, Matthew Wilson, 23, died Tuesday night because of his injuries.

The sole survivor of the BMW, Hector Villa Gran-Merida, 18, is out of a coma, but still in critical condition.

The driver of the BMW, Israel Palmero Merida, 17, did not have a drivers license.

Police believe drunk driving and speeding led to the horrific crash that killed four people and critically injured one other in Newark, Delaware Monday night.

Around 9:45 p.m. at the intersection of Paper Mill and Possum Park Roads a BMW collided with a Honda. The BMW struck the median, became airborne, landed on top of the Honda, then continued to flip over several times.

The driver of the BMW, 17-year-old Israel Palmero Merida of Flamingo Drive in Newark, along with front seat passenger 15-year-old Jose Juan Garcia Ortiz of Bedford Lane in New Castle were trapped in the vehicle and died at the scene.

One of the two back seat passengers, 20-year-old Francisco Rodriguez Contreras of Raven Turn in Newark, was ejected from the car and also pronounced dead at the scene.

The fourth passenger in the BMW, 18-year-old Hector Villa Gran-Merida of Hanover Way in New Castle, was also ejected and is listed in critical condition at Christiana Hospital.

Police say the driver of the BMW had been drinking and was speeding at the time of the accident.

An official at the scene described the accident as one of the worst he's ever seen.

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