ROYAL PALM TEEN DIES IN 4 A.M. CRASH

Jacqueline Torres was riding in the car that crashed by fairgrounds.

ROYAL PALM BEACH — An 18-yearold Royal Palm Beach woman was killed early Sunday when a car in which she and a friend were riding slammed into trees near the South Florida Fairgrounds, the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said Monday.

Jacqueline Torres was a passenger in the car, which crashed at about 4 a.m., a sheriff ’s report said.

“She was an exciting, adventurous, happy person,” her brother, Pablo Torres, said Monday, translating for his mother. “And a very beautiful woman.”

The driver, Cedrick Watson, 17, of Royal Palm Beach was injured in the crash, which took place on the 8500 block of Belvedere Road in suburban West Palm Beach, the report said.

Watson was speeding in the 2005 BMW, according to the report.

He lost control of the car and it began to spin, then went up on the center median and struck three trees, throwing both people out of the vehicle.

Torres was dead at the scene. Watson was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where the report says he was in serious condition Sunday.

No update on his status was immediately available Monday.

The Palm Beach County School District said Torres attended a charter school but did not provide further details.

Torres — known as “Jackie” — recently had been looking at colleges, and she was working at a shop at the Mall at Wellington Green, her brother said Monday.

Pablo Torres said Saturday was prom night but his sister opted not to go, instead heading out for the evening with Watson, whom Pablo Torres described as a close friend but not her boyfriend.

Torres left her parents and

two brothers and a sister. Her brother said the family was making funeral arrangements.

The sheriff ’s report said no charges were immediately filed as deputies investigate the crash.

The report does not say whether investigators believe alcohol was involved or Torres and Watson were wearing seat belts.

It also did not specify the speed at which the car was traveling at the time of the crash.