By James Kelley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday October 14, 2002
Two UA students, at least one of whom was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, were killed in a car accident early Saturday morning.
Alcohol and speed were factors in the crash, police reported.
The students, one of whom has been identified by police as Erik S. Baumgartner, a 21-year-old economics junior from Lakeside Calif., were both pronounced dead at University Medical Center Saturday.
Police will not release the name of the other occupant of the Mercedes until his family is notified. He was 25 and a resident of Tucson.
The white 1998 Mercedes SUV that Baumgartner and the other student were traveling in flipped and rolled over at North Greasewood Road, between West Broadway Boulevard and West Anklam Road at about 3 a.m. on Saturday.
The Mercedes was traveling south on North Greasewood Road at 80 miles per hour when it swerved into a silver 2002 Mitsubishi SUV that was heading north, according to Tucson Police Department reports.
The vehicle Baumgartner was traveling in swerved onto an embankment and flipped over.
The driver of the Mitsubishi, Desiree Velasco, 26, was cited for driving under the influence. She and her two passengers were all wearing seatbelts and suffered only minor injuries.
Her car burst into flames, but she and the two passengers escaped safely.
There was "probable cause" to believe that Velasco was over the 0.08 blood-alcohol content limit, but it can be inferred that her BAC was less than 0.18, said Sgt. Marco Borboa, spokesman for TPD.
The Arizona blood alcohol limit is 0.08.
Velasco was cited and released at the scene on a promise to appear in court, Borboa said.
TPD found a "presence of alcohol" in the Mercedes, but have not determined which student was driving yet, or whether that student had been drinking alcohol.
An autopsy is pending, Borboa said.
Neither UA student in the Mercedes was wearing a seatbelt.
The speed limit in the area ÷ a hilly and narrow, but basically straight stretch of the road ÷ is about half the speed Baumgartner and the other student were traveling.
