19 Year-Old Charged in Fatal Car Accident

marquis

The driver of the vehicle that was involved in a fatal accident Sunday morning in Utusia’ has been arrested and charged.

19 year-old Manuita Sofeni of Atu’u is charged with homicide by vehicle for allegedly causing the death of Marquis Leauma.

Police information about the accident was from interviewing bystanders at the crash site and viewing the surveillance video camera of a gas station near the scene.

According to court filings the video showed two male occupants of the vehicle leaving the accident scene in a rush. Police say Sofeni was one of the two.

One of the people responding officers interviewed at the crash site was Abigail Poyer identified in a court affidavit as the registered owner of the vehicle involved in the accident. She stated that the victim, Leauma had borrowed her car the night before to go drinking with his friends.

She also stated that Leauma would always go riding with young boys from the village of Atu’u where he’s from. She told police a woman named Blessing would be able to identify the men that he was with.

When police met Blessing at the LBJ Hospital she said Leauma was with a male named Prince and another male whose identity she did not know, driving in the vehicle involved in the crash.

Police discovered from family members in Atu’u that Prince’s real name was President Nelisi. When police visited his home Sunday morning, his family said Nelisi left their house the night before and had not returned home.

Police also learned while in Atu’u that the third person who was with Leauma and Nelisi the night before was Manuita Sofeni, the defendant. They visited Sofeni’s family where the young man’s father informed them that Sofeni had left the night before and had not been home since.

Around 9am Sunday morning, police issued an All Points Bulletin for Nelisi and Sofeni.

Around 3:21 Sunday afternoon police received a call from Nelisi’s mother saying she found her son and Sofeni in Atu’u and she was on her way to the Fagatogo Police headquarters to turn them in.

When questioned by police, Nelisi said on the night before the crash, they had traveled four or five times between Atu’u and Alofau and at one time they went to the “Aute” in Malaeloa where they bought several cut off straws containing crystal methamphetamine.

He also told police that Leauma was drinking in the back seat all this time while he and Sofeni took turns driving.

On their last trip to the east side, Sofeni was speeding at the curves causing their vehicle to drift on the side of the highway several times. At Utusi’a, Sofeni over steered the vehicle onto a grassy gravel and sandy side of the road while speeding causing him to lose control of the vehicle and ended up crashing the car.

Nelisi said he passed out for a few seconds after the crash and when he regained consciousness he decided to take off because he was scared.

According to police, the defendant Sofeni admitted that he was driving the vehicle when it crashed.

He claimed Leauma was heavily intoxicated and it was at his demands that they drove 4-5 times between Atuu and Alofau that night.

Sofeni said that on their last trip coming back from Alofau, he was very frustrated with Leauma mocking him that he drives too slow. He said he got very irritated when Leauma repeatedly mocked him and turned the car speaker too loud that he started to speed up.

He told police that on the last stretch of road in Utusi’a he could hear Leauma from the back seat demanding him to speed up the vehicle. He said he could not regain control of the vehicle as it careened to the opposite lane where it struck a coconut tree before crashing into the ocean.

Leauma was pronounced dead at the LBJ Hospital by attending physician Dr Edward Leziton

The affidavit said the cause of death was ruled as severe traumatic brain injury.

The doctor said visible injuries on the victim’s head, face and blood observed in the ears, nose and mouth were consistent with trauma to the head.

Bail for Sofeni was set at $10,000 and he had his initial appearance in District Court earlier this week.

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