The family of Madelyn Quiroz of Dayton is happy to be one step closer to justice in the case of their daughter who was paralyzed in a car crash on Jan. 23, 2020. Madelyn, who was 16 years old and a dancer with the Dayton High School Dazzlers at the time of the crash, now is confined to a wheelchair.
Quiroz was a backseat passenger in a vehicle driven by another juvenile female, also a student at Dayton High School. Another schoolmate was a front seat passenger in the vehicle. The teen driver reportedly was driving at a high rate of speed on Waco Street at US 90 when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed. Quiroz’s spinal cord was severely damaged and she suffered a collapsed lung, broken back, broken ribs, fractured right foot, broken nose, broken arm, multiple contusions, internal bleeding and damage to her right radial nerve on her left arm.
According to Dayton Police Chief Derek Woods, the Liberty County Attorney’s Office has accepted a charge of Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury against the driver. While the driver is now 18, she was 16 years old at the time of the crash and will be prosecuted as a juvenile. She has been arrested, processed and released on bond to await trial.
“We are over the top with gratitude about charges being filed against the driver,” said Madelyn’s mother, Marina, who has pushed for justice for her daughter since the crash.
Upon learning of the charges, a tearful Madelyn told her mother, “I finally feel validated.”
The driver’s arrest came after an independent investigation that was conducted with Dayton Police Department’s cooperation. The independent investigator was appointed to the case after complaints from Quiroz’s family that Dayton Police Department had not completed a thorough investigation.
“Both the independent investigation and the investigation of one of our investigators were able to obtain more information in this case,” said Woods, who was not chief at the time of the crash.
The Quiroz family’s pleas for justice reached a tipping point in November 2021 when they held a press conference outside Dayton Police Department’s headquarters on Cleveland Street. Joining in that protest was the family of Allyssa Salazar, who died in a separate, unrelated crash six months later on SH 146 in Dayton. Salazar’s family also complained that the investigation appeared to have been dropped by Dayton Police Department.
Chief Woods said the investigation into any alleged wrongdoing in the Salazar case will begin once Quiroz’s case is wrapped up.
Marina Quiroz credits Wayne Dolcefino and his team at Dolcefino Consulting for pushing the city to hire an independent investigator to her daughter’s case and Salazar’s case.
“I give God all the glory and I have faith that justice will prevail,” she said. “However, Wayne and his team were the fireballs behind this. They were the big guns I needed to get the City fired up and willing to conduct an investigation.”
Quiroz also credits Dayton Police Det. Terri Dale for doing a “slam dunk job” on the investigation.
As a result of the charges, Madelyn Quiroz now qualifies for the Victims Compensation Act, which will help her family cover the costs for her medical treatment and physical therapy.
“I believe had the PD done a thorough and proper investigation from the start, she would have already qualified for the Victims Compensation Act, but because the investigation was not done properly, we, as her family, had to cover these costs,” her mom said. “I believe she would have progressed further in her recovery had these things been provided from the start.”
I’m very relieved at the support for which she will now be eligible and also proud of her family and Soldering for their resolve to right a wromg.