
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993                   TAG: 9307170114
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LORTON                                LENGTH: Short

SOFA IN ROADWAY CAUSES FATAL CRASH

An 18-year-old woman trying to swerve around a sofa in the roadway lost control of her car and was killed in a collision with another car, police said.

Anna Lissa Campos of Dale City was driving south on Interstate 95 Wednesday night when the accident occurred. Her boyfriend, driving ahead of her in another car, successfully swerved around the sofa and watched helplessly as Campos' car ran off the road, crossed the median and was struck by an oncoming car.

"She was the girl of my dreams," said Mike Alves, 19, an Air Force enlisted man stationed at the Pentagon. The two attended Gar-Field High School together.

"For three years I wanted to meet her, and when she graduated in '92, I sent her a dozen roses and a poem, and I asked her to call me," Alves said.

The couple had discussed marriage the night of the crash, Alves said.

Virginia State Police said the accident occurred just five minutes after an off-duty Alexandria police officer alerted state police that a sofa was creating a hazard in the left lane of southbound I-95. A state police officer was en route to remove it.

Soon after the accident, police said they got a second call from a truck driver who said he had seen a sofa fall out of the back of a pickup truck with Florida tags. He said his truck had struck the sofa.

State police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said the sofa was on the shoulder of the road, but it stuck out into the left lane.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB