Teens On Teen Driving

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Neighbors near Rockville Pike, where an 18-year-old college freshman was killed in Tuesday night's six-car traffic pileup, say the area is often used for street racing.

Around 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, Gaithersburg resident Ngoc Xuan Thi Lai was driving her white Toyota Camry southbound near the White Flint Mall on Rockville Pike when a Honda Civic driven by 27-year-old Jeffrey Nunez and carrying two passengers crossed the median and went airborne, landing on the Camry and killing Lai instantly.

Police say Lai probably never knew what hit her. The youngest of eight children, Lai's distraught family spent Wednesday morning making funeral arrangements. "[I'm] upset and very sad," said Tuan Lai, the victim's brother. "My sister is actually innocent, [she had] just [gotten] off work."

Megan Booker, the victim's best friend, now tearfully remembers the good times she spent with Lai, from talking about boys to singing songs together.

Nunez told investigators that he lost control of his car when he swerved to miss a black Nissan that was driving erratically. Police are now looking for that car which is described as a 2005 to 2007 Nissan 350Z with a rear spoiler, tinted windows, and possibly Maryland tags that included the characters, "1- E-C." Nunez and one of his passengers, 22-year-old Rodnee Ganio, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, while the third person in the Civic, 47-year-old Gabrial Quinto, was not hurt.

After the Civic landed on the Camry, Lai's vehicle crashed into a Mazda driven by Ricardo Cruz, 35; Cruz was not injured. A fourth vehicle, a BMW driven by 19-year-old Chawla Rashi was also hit by one of these cars, but Rashi also escaped without injury. And the Civic went on to strike a Toyota carrying two adults and a child, while the driver of a Ford drove into the median to avoid colliding with the Toyota.

One witness who heard the crash believes that the cars were racing when the collision occurred. Hooman Kowkabi said, "Something's got to be done about these street racer dudes that come out here and just fly down Rockville Pike [at] a hundred miles an hour. It seems like they get away with it every week, and now someone's got to pay for it."

Lai worked as a part-time receptionist at the Manhattan Jaguar dealership in Rockville. Her co-workers there also complained about cars racing along Rockville Pike. In fact, they say a nearby parking lot is nicknamed the "Fast and Furious staging area" for racers.