A tragic and freak car crash that occurred in Florida has reverberated in Massachusetts and left communities just outside of Boston in anguish.
Alanna DeMella, 26, of Medford, was seven months pregnant when a car crashed into the Florida resort where she was staying and killed her and her unborn baby.
DeMella was a teacher’s aide at the Pierce Elementary School in Arlington, where grief counselors spent yesterday talking to the school’s students.
“We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the DeMella family,” principal Karen Hartley said in a statement posted on the school’s website.
DeMella was on vacation with her husband, Michael, 31, at the Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday afternoon when the crash occurred.
They were in a cabana when Rosa Kim, 34, “for unknown reasons” lost control of the 2006 Audi sedan she was driving, jumped the sidewalk and hit the wall of the resort, Fort Lauderdale police said in a statement.
DeMella and her baby were pronounced dead on the scene. Her husband was taken to a medical center for minor injuries. Kim suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and is in a hospital in stable condition. She has not yet been charged with a crime.
Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Travis Mandell would not say yesterday whether speed, alcohol or drugs were preliminary factors in the crash.
“With all traffic homicides, there’s a lot of science that goes into it. We have to get all of our ducks in a row before we jump to any conclusions,” he said. “We’ll leave no stone unturned.”
