Family of Hope woman who fell from moving pickup sues driver, alleging he was drunk and ignored her pleas to stop

HOPE, Ark. — The family of a 23-year-old Hope woman who died Sept. 20 after falling from a moving pickup truck has sued the driver and the truck’s owner, alleging the driver was drunk and kept going while she pleaded with him to stop.

The wrongful-death complaint was filed Wednesday in Hempstead County Circuit Court on behalf of the estate of Queyla Lee Orozco by Sonia Salomon and Diyer Mendoza, who were appointed special co-administrators of her estate this month. It names Manuel Marrufo Aldaba, who was driving, and Armando Marrufo, who owned the truck. Both live in Hope, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Orozco and Marrufo Aldaba attended a social gathering at a friend’s home in or near Spring Hill on Sept. 20. Marrufo Aldaba drank and became intoxicated, then set out to drive Orozco home to Hope in a pickup owned by Armando Marrufo, the complaint says.

As the truck traveled along the highway, Orozco was “at or near the open passenger-side door” of the moving vehicle, the complaint says. Marrufo Aldaba recorded a video of her there, and in the recording she can be heard repeatedly saying, “Stop, stop, stop,” while the truck is moving, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges he did not stop or slow down until after she fell or was thrown from the truck. She suffered severe blunt-force trauma to her head and lost consciousness, the complaint says.

Rather than driving to a hospital or calling for an ambulance, Marrufo Aldaba put Orozco’s unconscious body back in the truck and drove back to the house where the gathering had been held, the complaint says. He told the homeowner that Orozco was in the truck, injured and in need of help, and the homeowner then drove her to the nearest hospital, where she was pronounced dead in the emergency room, according to the complaint.

The Hempstead County Sheriff’s Office gave an initial account of the night in a news release issued after her death. The sheriff’s office said the incident happened in the 900 block of Springlake Road in Spring Hill, and that deputies were dispatched to Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center at about 2:32 a.m. Sept. 20, where a Hope police sergeant told them Orozco had been brought in unresponsive at about 2:11 a.m.

“Responding deputies were told that Orozco jumped from a moving vehicle after an argument with her boyfriend and driver of the vehicle,” the release said. She was pronounced dead at 2:52 a.m.

Hempstead County Coroner David Peters took custody of her body, which was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for the medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death, the sheriff’s office said. The release did not name the driver and said the investigation was continuing, with “no further conclusions regarding the circumstances or cause of death” being released at that time.

The family’s lawyers say the delay in getting her emergency care “caused or contributed to additional injury or death,” and that the video, witness testimony, police and medical records and autopsy findings will establish what happened.

The suit brings negligence, wrongful-death and survival claims against Marrufo Aldaba. It accuses him of driving drunk, ignoring Orozco’s repeated demands to stop and failing to get her prompt medical help, and it asks for punitive damages, arguing his conduct showed “conscious indifference to and callous disregard of the danger” to her.

Armando Marrufo is accused of negligent entrustment. The complaint alleges that “for many years” before the crash, Marrufo Aldaba “had engaged in a recurring practice of consuming alcoholic beverages and thereafter operating a motor vehicle while under the influence,” that Armando Marrufo knew it, and that he let him use the truck anyway.

The estate is seeking damages for Orozco’s conscious pain and suffering, medical expenses, the loss of her life and her family’s grief, along with punitive damages, interest and costs. The complaint demands a jury trial. No dollar figure is stated.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Medlock Law Firm of Arkadelphia.

The defendants had not filed a response as of Wednesday, and the complaint presents only the family’s account. No criminal charges connected to Orozco’s death appeared in Hempstead County Circuit Court records Wednesday, and the sheriff’s office has not announced any arrest.

A separate probate case to administer Orozco’s estate was opened in Hempstead County on Oct. 1.