KMC emergency room staffer killed by drunk driver
Mother of two was on her way home from night shift
| Sunday, Jun 07 2009 07:48 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jun 07 2009 07:48 PM
Emergency room workers at Kern Medical Center were stunned to learn a colleague had been killed by a drunk driver early Sunday while heading home after a night shift.
Carey Curtis, 26, died shortly after 4 a.m. when another woman crashed into her 1997 Nissan Sentra at the intersection of Wilson and Wible roads, officials say.
“We lost a very good part of our team,” said Curt Cabral, KMC’s emergency room director. “Our prayers and sympathy goes out to her family.”
Curtis, a Shafter resident, worked as a nursing assistant in the ER. She’d been on staff about five years, Cabral said, mostly working weekends while going to school full time. She has two children.
Curtis usually worked day shifts but had come in at 7 p.m. Saturday for the overnight shift.
The Bakersfield Police Department said Bakersfield resident Teresa Pina, 37, was drunk when she drove her 1999 Mercedes C230 south on Wible into Curtis’ eastbound Nissan.
The impact sent the Nissan into the wall of the Market Express at 2500 Wilson Road. Curtis, who was wearing a seat belt, died at the scene.
Pina was taken to KMC’s emergency room before being booked into jail on suspected charges of felony drunk driving and felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Pina’s bail was set at $110,000, online jail records show. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
