79-year-old woman killed in wreck involving driver charged with DWI

A 79-year-old woman died when the car in which she was a passenger was hit by a suspected impaired driver on South Tryon Street in Steele Creek, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said.

Cecelia Buitiago De Gonzalez was in the back seat of a southbound Toyota Camry that was hit by a northbound Hyundai Elantra near Moss Road shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday. De Gonzalez was pronounced dead at Carolinas Medical Center.

At the hospital, police charged Kelly Ann Conkin, 23, of Clover, S.C., the driver of the Elantra, with driving while impaired. Police also obtained arrest warrants charging Conkin with felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by motor vehicle, careless/reckless driving and possession of marijuana. The warrants will be served on Conkin once she is released from the hospital, where she was being treated for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Conkin was convicted of DWI in Mecklenburg County in 2014, court records show.

In Saturday’s wreck, police said Conkin’s car hit a raised concrete curb and veered across two lanes of northbound South Tryon and the grass median before hitting the Elantra.

The driver of the Camry, Farshad Hosseini, was hospitalized with serious injuries. Front-seat passenger Sonia Rocio Gonzalez and rear passenger Shophia Hosseini were hospitalized with minor injuries, police said. Everyone in the wreck had seat belts on, police said

Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information about the case is asked to call CMPD Detective Andrew Oberer at 704-432-2169 or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

This story was originally published August 20, 2016 at 12:40 PM with the headline "79-year-old woman killed in wreck involving driver charged with DWI."