R.I.P. Erika Roman (FEVER RECORDS/Power 95.3 Orlando)

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I just got the news a bit ago that our beloved friend Erika "Chula" Roman has passed away in a car accident earlier today May 1st.

Erika was an awesome personality & person. As many of us know Sal Abbateillo gave her her big break. She has been loved & known throught out the Freestyle, Radio, & Hip-Hop communities as one of the best on-air personalities & hosts.

After New York, she found a home at Power 95.3's Hip-Hop/Dance station in Orlando, and has also hosted all of the Freestyle concerts & shows.
Below is the last pic I took with her hangin' out at the Expose' concert at TaBu not even 2 weeks ago:

R.I.P. Erika we love you & will always miss you!!!!
(Link below the pic)
Erika1.jpg

http://power953.com/
 
how very sad - my heart goes out to her family/friends. This is also very scary, death can happen at any time to any of us.
 
Radio personality Erika Roman dies in S. Florida crash

Keith W. Kohn | Sentinel Staff Writer 11:06 PM EDT, May 1, 2009
46666145.JPG


Erika Roman (Power 95.3)



A popular Orlando radio DJ was killed Friday when she tried to avoid debris on Florida's Turnpike and her car ended upside down underwater about 20 miles south of Osceola County.

Erika Roman, 31, the morning host on Power 95.3 FM, was killed in the 1:30 p.m. single-car crash.

A Florida Highway Patrol report says she was driving southbound on the Turnpike in the right-hand lane and swerved to the left to avoid a lounge chair in the road.

She then overcorrected her 2007 Nissan Sentra and drove off the highway and onto the shoulder, according to the report. That's when her car flipped several times as it traveled more than 50 feet to a roadside canal and came to rest upside-down and submerged.




A Highway Patrol trooper and another motorist went into the water to rescue the car's lone occupant. The other motorist was injured in his rescue attempt and was taken to a hospital, but the trooper was able to pull Roman from the water. He performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 20 minutes, but was unable to revive her.

She was pronounced dead at Lawnwood Medical Center in Fort Pierce.

In Roman's final note to friends about 8 a.m. on the Web service Twitter, Roman said: "Ready to go to MIAMI today! Gonna hang with the fam!!!"

The radio station offered praise for Roman on its Web site.

"Erika was a wonderful, passionate, caring person and she will be missed greatly by all of her friends and family.

"If determination had a face, it would look like Erika Roman. If passion had a voice, it would sound like Erika Roman. And if character had a touch, it would feel like Erika Roman."

According to the station's biography of Roman, she was born and raised in New York City and has been in the music business for more than a decade.

In her late teens, she was taken under the wings of New York entertainment impresario Sal Abbatiello of Fever Records. She promoted nightclubs for Fever Records while attending Marymount Manhattan College in New York, where she earned a bachelor's degree in communications and media. She also co-hosted a show on co-host on State University of New York at Stonybrook's popular college radio station.

Keith W. Kohn can be reached at kkohn@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5741.
 
I cant believe this happened! I still can remember calling Sal at the office years ago before she left for florida. I would say "what the hell are you still doing picking up the phone at Sal's? you should have left him a long time ago!" she would laugh and tell me "Im never going to leave. neither will you!"
 
I can't remember the last time I felt this bad. Erika Roman was an incredible talent and a great person.She was probably the hottest female dj I knew. I last saw Erika a few months ago when she hosted a show we did at Tabu in Orlando. She really knew how to hype a crowd and make the fans as well as the artists feel good at any show she did. I found out today Erika died in a car crash just hours ago. As I type this I'm looking at her number on my cell phone wanting to call her and have her pick up the phone and tell me that she's ok and it's just a mistake. Erika I love you...many of us did and I know you are reading this from Heaven. We miss you Erika, thank you for your friendship.

Gary a.k.a Tourboss







www.myspace.com/tourboss
 
I'm still in shock & cannot believe it.
Below is more info:

In Roman's final note to friends about 8 a.m. on the Web service Twitter, Roman said: "Ready to go to MIAMI today! Gonna hang with the fam!!!"

Good Samaritans & Witnesses try to pull Erika Roman's car out of a roadside canal off Florida's Turnpike. Roman, a popular Orlando radio DJ, was killed. (COURTESY OF LISA JOHNSON / May 1, 2009)
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...tos-erika-roman-050209,0,1269573.photogallery
 
Im still in shock. I spoke to Shannon and Roger this morning and they both asked me to let thier family and loved ones know they are truly sorry for this sad, sad day.
 
Someone had posted this poem on a special forum on the Power 95.3 website dedicated to Erika Roman. I've posted this on my Facebook and will repost it here as well, for the sake of the healing process. On behalf of the members of the coalition, our condolences go out to friends and family of Erika Roman. 🙁

Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep
by Mary Elizabeth Frye

------

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow;
I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain;
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush;
I am in the graceful rush.

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.

I am the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.
 
Sal and the Fever Family - I am extremely saddened by the sudden loss of Erika Roman, she was one of the first people I met at Fever and we shared chuckles about our common last name. She was a treasure and will continue to be. A great and personable individual is now riding with a higher power and watching over us all.

Harv Roman - Chicago
 
wow! i met her once and what a wonderful person! im sorry to hear the bad news and condolences goes out to her fam, fans and friends.
 
Wow so sad, Sal may you find comfort and peace along with her family and friends. Erika we say good bye for now but we will all meet again in Heaven.
May the lord bless you now and forever, you are in a better place.

It saddens me to hear this since I wasn't able to see any of the boards over the weekend, and run into this. Another young child, that receives her calling way to early. But at the same time you have to be thankful, and glad the our god, lord and savior gave us the opportunity to enjoy and got to know this beautiful Angel.

God Bless and you will be miss.


Alex and Fam.
 
Details emerge in crash that killed DJ Erika Roman

A public memorial may be held Wednesday in Orlando

By Anika Myers Palm and Denise-Marie Balona | Sentinel Staff Writers 8:32 PM EDT, May 3, 2009


Today's update:

A wake for popular radio personality Erika Roman, who died in a car accident Friday, will be held later this week in Ocala, her family's hometown.

Meanwhile, her colleagues at Power 95.3 FM are trying to organize a memorial event here in Central Florida. The station's program director, Stevie DeMann, said he's hoping to hold a memorial for Roman's friends and fans here in Orlando sometime Wednesday evening.

He was still waiting to firm up details tonight, he said.



Funeral Homes in Ocala, located at 606 Southwest 2nd Ave. Family and close friends will attend from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public is invited starting at 2 p.m.

-- Denise-Marie Balona

--------

The horrified travelers who saw popular radio personality Erika Roman's car swerve, roll and land in a watery ditch on Friday didn't sit by and wait for the authorities.

Instead, they leaped into action to try to help.

Witnesses said more than a dozen people worked to pull the car from the water after the accident on Florida's Turnpike about 20 miles south of Osceola County – completing most of the job before the Florida Highway Patrol arrived.

"It was so amazing to see so many people come together to help," said Jennifer Doran of Orlando, who was there. "She had a lot of people there, all fighting to help her."

A diverse group of men and women of different ages and races stopped to help.

Doran called emergency personnel at 1:36 p.m. as the crash was happening.

Roman had been driving southbound on the Turnpike in the right-hand lane when she swerved to avoid a lounge chair in the road. As she overcorrected for the swerve, her 2007 Nissan Sentra veered off the highway, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

Her belongings had spilled on the ground as the car rolled and some of its windows broke. Bystanders collected the items to give them to authorities so she could be identified.

The impromptu group of rescuers flipped the car, fighting against time to get her out of her water-filled vehicle, Lisa Johnson, another bystander, told the Orlando Sentinel.

Roman was underwater about 12 minutes.

Several men jumped into the water to break the driver's-side window to get Roman out of the car, but were unable to free her fromher seat belt. They tied a chain around one of the wheels of the car and pulled it out by hand.

From the time Roman's car began its deadly spin, 15 minutes passed before the first troopers arrived, Doran said.

When an unconscious Roman finally was removed from the car, her rescuers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She never regained consciousness.

Roman, 31, a morning host and producer on Power 95.3 FM, was pronounced dead at Lawnwood Medical Center in Fort Pierce.

Law-enforcement officials say they have no information about the owner of the chair Roman swerved to avoid. If they were able to connect a name to it, the person would be charged with failure to secure a load.

Any additional charges would be made in consultation with the state attorney's office, said Jorge Delahoz, a spokesman for the Turnpike.

Highway drivers in Roman's situation have to make a quick decision about when they see debris on Florida's roads: Is it better to just hit it head on or swerve to miss it?

"If you're driving at the appropriate speed and scanning the roadway in front of you, you should be able to identify something and act appropriately," said Delahoz. "You have to be able to see about 300 yards in front of you – which is the length of a football field – in order to have enough space to react."

For younger drivers, car crashes are a particular danger; they're the leading cause of death for people ages 16 to 34, Delahoz said.
 
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