UPDATE: According to a Francesca Gross, a sorority sister of Aarrayn Perez, the older person killed was the grandmother of Perez.
UPPER MARLBORO, MD. —08/17/2014— The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is investigating a fatal collision in Upper Marlboro. The victims are identified as 19-year-old Aarrayn Jourdin Perez of Ranch Road in Upper Marlboro, and 66-year-old Barbara Armes of 19th Street in Southeast Washington.
On August 15, 2014, at about 8:30 pm, patrol officers were called to the intersection of Ritchie Marlboro Road and North Riding Road for the report of a crash involving two cars. Perez and Armes, the driver and passenger in one car, were both pronounced dead on the scene.
The preliminary investigation suggests Perez was driving a Lexus on North Riding Road approaching Ritchie Marlboro Road. Investigators believe Perez failed to yield the right of way while attempting to turn from North Riding Road onto northbound Ritchie Marlboro Road. A Nissan travelling southbound on Ritchie Marlboro Road struck the Lexus.
The driver of the Nissan was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Ironically, Perez was found not guilty of failing to stop at a stop sign driving the same Lexus on Feb. 6, 2014, according to court records. The University of Maryland Police Department had cited her for the violation on Field House Drive Lot 5 and the case was decided on April 7, 2014 in Prince George’s County District Court.
Perez posted this about herself on a website:
“I was born and raised in the national capital, Washington, DC. I was born on September 14, 1994 which makes me seventeen. I attended various private and public schools around the Metropolitan Area. I graduated from Benjamin Banneker Academic High School on June 8, 2011 at Cramton Auditorium on Howard University’s campus. Now, I am a freshman student at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, NC. My future goals include to graduate from Winston-Salem State University with a degree in early childhood education. From there, I would like to become a pre-school teacher in DC. Eventually, I would like to open my own school that includes pre-kindergarten and kindergarten so that more students will have the opportunity to attend pre-kindergarten like I did. After establishing myself as a pre-kindergarten teacher, I would like to open a mentoring center for teenage girls to aid them with the transition of from a pre-teen to a teenager to an adult.
“I am a friendly person, but it takes a while for me to open up to people and consider people my friends. I have 2 female best friends and 2 male best friends that I can trust with anything. My mom is also very close to me. I can tell her anything. I am also very opinionative. When I have an opinion on something, I stick very closely to that.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
I would like to request a retraction of details released in the subject news report. Aarrayn Perez was my sorority sister and friend. Through this article you are implying that she caused her death a well as the death of her grandmother. Until the facts are officially stated by the police, you have no right to smear the reputation of such as amazing, young woman. A family is devastated, a community is broken and all you have better to do is try to discredit her. If anything you should be writing about how amazing she and her grandmother were. You should be writing about the hundred of people who came to their candlelight vigil or discuss ways in which changes can be made to prevent further accidents such as this one.
Francesca Gross
(Editor’s Note:
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
I stumbled across your article about Aarrayn Perez and with all do respect
I have to say I find the article quite insensitive to the grieving family.
The “District woman” you speak of happens to be Aarrayn’s grandmother. So
while you search for reasons to show Aarrayn in a less than positive light
by digging up a previous traffic citations, her mother is left to grieve
the deaths of her only child and her mother. Have some respect and try to
avoid further pain. Have you no heart?
Naye Simpson
(Editor’s Note: Have you no brain? As reported, the “previous traffic citations” showed she was found not guilty. Do you know what that means? It means that the only driving infraction with which she had been charged previously in Maryland, she was found innocent, which in most arenas of public opinion, which show her in a positive light. The update earlier on Aug. 18th also showed that a friend of Perez had stated that the District woman was the grandmother of Perez. Perhaps you should find something else to do besides reading news reports if they trouble you so much. There are many other news outlets for which you can choose to obtain your news.)