The San Diego Tribune has reported on the death of Marquis Leauma who was killed in the car accident in Utusi’a Sunday morning.
by Teri Figueroa
A longtime North County resident who had been a high school football standout and in recent years was working toward a doctorate died earlier this week in a car crash in American Samoa, according to family, friends and media reports.
Marquis Leauma, 32, was a passenger in a car that crashed on the east side of the island of Tutuila early Sunday, according to news reports in Talanei[https://www.talanei.com/2020/09/14/victim-of-fatal-car-accident-identified/], a news website from South Seas Broadcasting.
The police commissioner in American Samoa declined comment Wednesday, and a police official declined to give information about the crash details, including when and where it happened.
Talanei, citing unnamed witnesses, said Leauma was in the backseat of a car when it struck a tree on a coastal road and landed in shallow ocean water early Sunday. The outlet said two others in the car took off after the crash, but were found later and detained.
American Samoa, made up of five islands and two atolls, is a U.S. territory in the South Pacific. Talanei reports that Leauma was a grandnephew of the governor.
News of the crash left family and friends shocked and devastated.
Local high school football fans may remember Leauma’s name from his days as a standout player in the early to mid 2000s, first at Vista High School, then in neighboring San Marcos at Mission Hills High School.
On Friday nights in the fall, Leauma would often bring fans to their feet with his prowess on the football field.
On the Saturday mornings that followed, his father would buy stacks of newspapers that featured sports stories bearing his son’s name [https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-leauma-mission-hills-steamroll-madison-2005sep03-story.html].
In his senior year, he rushed for more than 1,000 yards.
“He was the baddest football player, but the sweetest person,” younger brother Aaron Leauma said.
Marquis Leauma went on to play football at Palomar College, then transferred to Tabor College in Kansas. A few years later, he came home to North County with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“Once he got into college, a switch just clicked,” Aaron Leauma said. “He dedicated himself to wanting to help people, bring attention to mental health.”
Marquis Leauma went on to earn a master’s degree, and traveled to American Samoa for a month last year to gather data for his doctoral dissertation, which his brother said was completed and submitted last week.
His brother said Leauma fell in love with the island. “He wanted to immerse himself in our culture and really help the people there,” the brother said.
Upon his return to the island a few months later, there was a bit of competition to hire Leauma, said Muaiao Moliga, behavioral health case manager for the Department of Health in American Samoa, which finally succeeded in bringing him on staff. He went to work for the department as a behavioral health counselor, and helped create a substance abuse rehabilitation program.
“He was so passionate and so driven,” Moliga said. “We really needed someone with his expertise and capacity.”
Even with a full schedule, Leauma — the oldest of more than 50 grandkids — called home to North County several times a day, squeezing it in between work, choir practice, and overnight shifts on the suicide hotline he helped launch last month.
“He was the best big brother I could ask for, the best family member I could ask for,” Aaron Leauma said. “He meant everything to me.”
