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Olga Marina Franco Del Cid, 24, spoke softly and had tears in her eyes as she told Spanish interpreters that her boyfriend, Francisco Mendoza, was driving and that she was a passenger.
Franco said that as the crash was about to happen, she took off her seatbelt “because I didn’t want anything to happen, I wanted to get out of the van.”
She testified that after the crash, Mendoza got out of the van but she was stuck. Franco said the airbag pushed her next to Mendoza and that she moved into the driver’s seat, where emergency workers later found her pinned by the steering wheel and dashboard.
She said Mendoza fled. He has still not been found. A Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has said Mendoza is believed to be in his native Mexico.
Also, a mechanical engineer who inspected the scene of the crash, the bus and the van in April testified that if the passenger in the van had been unbelted, that passenger would have moved toward the driver’s seat in the crash.
After the defense rested, prosecutors called rebuttal witnesses, including a Montevideo police officer who ticketed Franco for driving without a license two years ago.
Four children were killed when the minivan struck the bus Feb. 19 near Cottonwood. Franco is charged with 24 counts in the crash, including criminal vehicular homicide.
Sixteen other children— from 4 to 15 years old — and another driver whose vehicle was struck by the bus, were injured in the crash.
Franco has also been charged with a gross misdemeanor for giving a false name to a peace officer and misdemeanor charges for driving without a license and for not stopping at a stop sign.
The prosecution of Franco started in Lyon County but was moved to Willmar, in Kandiyohi County, due to pre-trial publicity. Some of those news reports focused on Franco’s immigration status.
Immigration officials have said Franco, who was born in Guatemala, is in the country illegally. Franco testified that she paid a total of $8,000 to “coyotes” who smuggled her into the country three years ago.
She said she lived with relatives in Montevideo, Marshall and Willmar before moving in last year with Mendoza in Minneota. She described him as abusive, and said she stayed with him because she both loved and feared him.
“He always said if I broke up with him, my life would be at risk,” she said.
Judge David W. Peterson told jurors the case would likely be delivered to them for deliberations today.
