The mother of an Escondido woman killed in a car crash Sunday is urging drivers to slow down and calling out city planners to revisit the safety of State Route 76.
Amaranta Kozuch, 29, was killed Sunday when the driver of a Ford F-150 truck slammed into the back of her Kia sedan and took out two other cars at what witnesses said could have been speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.
Her mother, Jeanne Kozuch, learned about the crash when she saw news photographs displayed at the airport Monday morning.
Although upset by the loss of her daughter, with whom she moved to Escondido one year ago, Kozuch expressed more anger than sadness.
"Why? Why are you guys in such a hurry?" she said, calling out San Diego drivers. "Wasn't the life of my daughter important? Or the life of anybody else? So slow down."
Kozuch said her daughter was scheduled to interview with a professor Monday to discuss entering a Ph.D. program.
"And that's not going to happen," Kozuch said through tears.
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"I'm angry. This was senseless," she added. "This was a good human being. Not because she was my daughter; because she was a decent human being."
Kozuch said her daughter was caring and worked with animals doing conservation research at the San Diego Zoo. She was currently working on the reintroduction of the Pacific pocket mouse and spent a month preparing a presentation for her Ph.D. about safety corridors for jaguars across Central America.
She said there are many questions left unanswered and she fully intends to press charges against the driver and the city.
"They need to make an example of this. Then maybe everybody will get the message, too, that you have to be considerate and take your time and care for each other," said Kozuch.
The grieving mother also has a message to the city about the safety issues on the ride where her daughter was killed.
"Where are the city planners? Where are they? Come and talk to me," she said.
As for the driver of the F-150, Kozuch said she wants to know if he is in the country legally, whether he can work here legally and whether he has a valid license and insurance.
"And we want to know many things and we will address them all," she said. "I'm not going anywhere."
