Posted by
Playful Walrus on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:46:15 PM
A sad story is playing out in Orange County.
Doug Irving and Maria Chercoles of the
Orange County Register report on teen mothers who went out partying and ended up dead.A sidewalk memorial to two dead sisters took shape Monday while investigators and family members tried to make sense of the car crash that killed them – and to explain the canister of laughing gas found in the wreckage.
The two women, young mothers from Santa Ana, died early Sunday when their car veered off Euclid Street and slammed into a tree. A third woman in the car was hospitalized with major internal injuries, broken bones in her face and severe burns.
The impact was so crushing that it tore the car almost in half. Police found the speedometer more than 100 feet away; it was stopped at 60 mph, but police said there's no way to know whether that's how fast the car was moving.
It’s a good thing that nobody else was killed or harmed. This could have been a lot worse.
Police also found a half tank of nitrous oxide – the laughing gas of dental offices – on the floor of the front passenger's side. The gas is sometimes used at rave parties to induce a brief high that some users have compared to floating; police said they were still not sure why it was in the car.
An autopsy of the two women killed in the crash – Blanca Lopez, 19, and Carol Lopez, 18 – concluded that both died of multiple and severe traumas. Coroners requested special tests for nitrous oxide in addition to the standard toxicology tests, but those will likely take several weeks to complete.
Someone was using that container for either unneeded speed on the road, or a high. Either way, it is bad news.
Blanca Lopez had two daughters, ages 2 and 5 months. She had begun to talk about marriage with her boyfriend, Armando Nuñez.
So let’s review. Blanca got pregnant at what – 15 or 16? She had a baby. Then, she got pregnant
again at 17 or 18, and had another baby. Without the benefit of being married. She had “begun” to talk about marriage with Armando Nunez. The article doesn’t say if he was the father of either or both of those children. He may not be even if he thinks he is. Lovely picture, isn’t it?
Her sister, Carol, had a 5-month-old girl and was studying to become a nurse.
So this sister, who got pregnant at about 17 because she didn’t learn anything from her older sister, is studying to become a nurse? I wonder where she finds the time, taking care of a 5 month-old, and all.
But it gets better.
The third person in the car, Martha Ochoa, 17, was their cousin.
The three women were returning home after partying at an underage event at a nearby nightclub, according to police.
So these teenage mothers were out partying it up instead of taking care of their children. Lovely.
Blanca Lopez was driving and lost control of the car, crashing it into the tree. Police think she was speeding.
"I've been a cop for over 18 years," traffic investigator Chris Wasinger said. "This is the most spectacularly damaged vehicle I've ever seen."
Again, it is a good thing nobody else was hurt or killed.
On Monday, seven bouquets of red and white roses decorated the sidewalk near where Blanca and Carol Lopez died.
I wonder if ANY of the people who are leaving roadside memorials
ever once told these girls that 1) “partying” is a bad idea; 2) driving fast is a bad idea; 3) keeping children as unmarried teenagers is a bad idea; 4) once you are a parent, you shouldn’t be out partying; 5) intercourse as an unmarried teenager is a bad idea; 6) "dating" or having intercourse when you are already an unmarried teen parent is a bad idea; 7) there are a dozen forms of effective contraception; 8) plenty of people want to adopt babies and give them a good home; 9) California allows you to “surrender” your newborn baby to a hospital or fire station or police station with no strings attached and no obligations.
Now, these children, who were already facing tough odds, have lost their mothers.
Actions have real and lasting consequences. Even if the person committing the act is a teenager.
True to form, online readers of the
Register are leaving comments, and some people connected with the Lopez girls are defending them. It’s not that these girls aren’t worthy of being mourned. It is that their mistakes should be used as lessons to others, lest other people make the same mistakes. It is precisely because these girls made some bad choices that this story is as sad as it is. Those who “judge” these girls hold them to a higher standard than those who are defending their mistakes.