Sunday, September 13, 2009

WEST VIRGINIA: Three people died following a car crash Sunday evening. A local TV station says four teens were driving in a sedan when the driver lost control, colliding with a minivan. The sedan caught fire while all four teens were still inside. Two teens -- Kylee Braham, 16, and Riley Puckett, 19, died at the scene. Brittany Waters, 16, died a few days later, police said. A fourth teen, Zach Simon, 16, is in critical condition. All six passengers in the minivan were taken to the hospital.

MICHIGAN: A teenager was thrown from a vehicle near Detroit after a high-speed pursuit with police, and later died. Police have not identified the 15-year-old Detroit resident, who was a passenger in the car. Two other teens, including the driver, were arrested after the car crashed into a stop sign, fire hydrant and tool supply store in Redmond. See the story for more details here.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A 17-year-old Myrtle Beach teen died around 3:30 a.m. after the car he was in failed to stop at a stop sign, crossed over the highway, struck a ditch, struck a tree, and then overturned several times. Patrick McNeese, 17, died at the scene of the crash. This report says another person in the car was taken to the hospital, and police are unsure who was driving the car at the time of the crash.

UPDATE: I'm sure there's a chance there could be another Patrick McNeese in the South Carolina area that surfs, but I'll take the chance that this photo is him There are more photos of Patrick surfing here.

Another update: There is a memorial story here and video of some of Patrick's surfing friends.

INDIANA: A local TV station is reporting that 18-year-old Tommy Allen died in a motorcycle/car accident after he failed to stop his bike at a stop light and ran into the side of a Volkswagen Jetta. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died.

PENNSYLVANIA: This is the second driving-related teen death for this part of Pennsylvania in the past couple weeks. The Leader-Vindicator reports that 18-year-old Shane Edward Horner of Brockway died around 3:15 p.m. at the scene of the crash, and two people from Canada were seriously injured. Shane veered into the shoulder and up onto someone's lawn before overcorrecting and driving across the road into oncoming traffic. He struck a minivan driven by an older Canadian man, who was taken to the hospital along with his passenger.

Friends have set up a Facebook memorial page for Shane, who seemed to love to dance.

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009

Photo from the Amarillo Globe-News

TEXAS: This is just tragic: An unlicensed 14-year-old driver caused an accident that killed five people in the car, including herself, her mother and her brother. According to this story in the Amarillo Globe-News, Aime Banuelos was driving a minivan along Highway 70 about 10 miles north of Pampa when she took her eyes off the road and crossed the median, crashing into an oncoming truck. A photo from Amarillo.com shows a decimated, burned minivan on the side of the road.

"The scene was heartbreaking," said a spokesman for the state troopers. "I don't want to elaborate. It was difficult for the officers. It's difficult to face that sort of decimation. Any human would be taken aback by that type of scene."

Aime died at the scene. So did her mother, Teresa Martinez, 46; her brother, Juan Banuelos, 15; her friend, Jeff Pace, 16; and a family friend, Estafana Cortez-Rosales, 74. Martinez's granddaughter, Celeste Espitia, 5, survived and was flown to the hospital for treatment.

State troopers say the driver of the big rig Aime collided with saw her take her eyes off the road before the accident. She was leaning over picking something up, moving something, or adjusting something. Whatever it was, it took her eyes off the road for a critical few seconds.

PENNSYLVANIA: A 16-year-old was killed on her first day at a new school as she took a ride home. Police say all three occupants in the car were wearing their seatbelts, and speeding did not appear to be a factor, according to this story. But the driver lost control somehow, and Alexandra Smolin, 16, was killed. She had only been at Central Bucks South high school for a day, having recently moved from Florida.

Other newspapers have her name spelled correctly, and there's a nice memorial story here.

NORTH CAROLINA: Police say 18-year-old Bryan Patrick Sheppard of Reidsville died Wednesday afternoon when he pulled in front of an oncoming car. He was driving a 1985 Pontiac when he tried to cross the highway, and was hit by a 2006 Toyota heading southbound. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts.

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009


No fatal accidents reported through Google News Alerts or through Nexis. Could we have had a safe day?

UPDATE: No such luck.

OHIO: Rebecca Ickes, of Bremen, died following an accident that happened on Tuesday which at first puzzled accident investigators. Now, police say Rebecca, known as Becky, ran a stop sign and collided with an oncoming van, according to the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.  Becky died Wednesday from her injuries.

The stunning red head graduated from Fairfield Union High School this year and planned to attend the Lancaster campus of Ohio University in the winter semester. She wanted to major in early childhood education.

The newspaper posted a sad photo of someone holding Becky's hand after the accident. Becky's mom, Cheryl, says she's happy someone was there to hold her hand and talk to her during that time of crisis.

Monday, August 31, 2009


OREGON: Seventeen-year-old Marissa Pratt died at the scene of one-vehicle accident at 5 a.m., police said. Three others were injured. The News-Review reports that a 16-year-old female and two 22-year-old males were injured.  The 2006 Jeep Wrangler had been traveling east when the driver lost control and slid off the roadway. It rolled before coming to rest about 200 feet down an embankment.

August 23, 2009

FLORIDA: Not sure if this fits into the whole teen driving scenario, but it involves teens so it feels wrong to exclude it. An 18-year-old driving a dirt bike without its lights on struck a car, which was also driven by a teen. The accident happened west of DeLand, Fla., at around 11:15 p.m., according to the News-Journal. The dirt bike driver, who was not wearing a helmet, died. A passenger on the bike, also not wearing a helmet, was in critical condition Monday.

OHIO: 19-year-old Jacob Childers died in an early-morning accident after his car struck a tree in western Lucas County. Police say Childers was not wearing a seatbelt, and may have been speeding. There's a short story explaining some details here.

UPDATED: There's more info out now on Childers, known as Jake to his friends, at Legacy.com. Childers was an honors student who was planning to attend the University of Cincinnati in the fall. "He had  agreat sense of humor, a creative flair, passion for adventure, loved music, believed in God, loved the water, and had an appetite of no other." Plus, the picture with his obituary shows that there's a chance the girls were gaga for him.

NEW YORK: A New York City security guard returning home from work was killed by a teen driver early Sunday morning as he stepped out of his cab. The New York Daily News reports that 32-year-old Donald Bryan was struck as he headed back to his Queens home.

He stepped out of the taxi just as a Lexus driven by 18-year-old Alfred Barcenilla Jr. "roared around the corner," witnesses told the newspaper.

"I knew the guy was in bad shape," neighbor Christopher Gianni told the New York Daily News. "The last thing he said to me was that he felt really cold. That's when he started to slip out."

A report in Newsday says Bryan was dragged under the car for half a block until the car crashed into a fence. 

Barcenilla was not injured in the accident, passed a breathalyzer test and was not charged with DUI.

UPDATE: Barcenilla was later charged with underage drinking after the accident. Given the fact he passed the breathalyzer test, he probably was drinking but not technically drunk. What's that new drunk driving slogan? Buzzed driving is drunk driving? Seems to fit here.

OHIO: A 17-year-old boy from Holland, Ohio, was killed when he ran a stop sign and was hit by an oncoming car. Jacob Martin was driving a Dodge Neon when he ran the sign around 7 p.m. Sunday, and was struck by a car driven by a 28-year-old man from Toledo. Martin was declared dead at the scene.

UPDATED: Legacy.com has Jake's obituary and guest book up, although no picture. He was an avid BMX biker, snowboarder, and involved in his church's youth group. He also volunteered at charity events for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the comments on the guest book show he was a polite and sweet, bringing younger kids to roller skate and "had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I've known."

WISCONSIN: A 17-year-old boy from Campbellsport, Wisc., was killed around 2 a.m. Sunday in a one-car accident on a rural road. Tyler Batzler was partially ejected from his car when it went off the road and entered a ditch, rolling over. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

UPDATE: Friends have erected a memorial page to Tyler on Facebook, in addition to the memorials the family is working on. People keep repeating the same message: Tyler loved life, and was friends with everyone. He had wicked blue eyes, and shared my passion for Will Ferrel movies (at least, that's what his MySpace page says.)

He also appears to have been a pretty good snowboarder, as you can see in this video below. Tyler is the last snowboarder in the shot.

August 22, 2009


MICHIGAN: Police are investigating why 20-year-old Ryan Woodward was laying on a dark rural road, according to this story by the Lansing State Journal. He was struck by a car driven by a longtime friend, age 19. The driver is not expected to face charges, since he was the designated driver and DUI tests prove he wasn't drinking. But police don't know why Woodward was in the road -- could he have passed out there? More to come on this story.


NEBRASKA: The Journal Star posted a lovely memorial story for 16-year-old Emily Johnson, a junior at Southwest High who died Saturday heading for work at noon. The accident occurred close to her home, colliding with a car driven by 17-year-old Taylor Mortensen. His car struck Emily's car at the driver's door as she pulled away from a stop sign.

Mortensen is still in the hospital.

Emily, a twin, seemed like a blast to be around, and her friends still seem in shock by the news. They spent Sunday telling stories about how funny she could be, saying how she could make eating Chipotle burritos graphic and funny.

She had just started her junior year a week earlier.

KANSAS: Sixteen-year-old Dalton Westphal of Carbondale died in a one-car rollover accident Saturday evening. He was a junior at Shawnee Heights High School, and was the only person in the car. Police say the accident is under investigation.

UPDATE: Dalton's obituary is online through the funeral home.  Dalton was an honors student, played soccer, tennis and baseball, and was smart enough to figure out how to fix his new iPod when it stopped working. He liked to play pranks on his sister, and apparently spent a good amount of time laughing.

CALIFORNIA: An 18-year-old Bakersfield man was killed when he crashed into a brick wall on Snow Road. Police say  they're unsure of what caused John Jenkins to lose control of his SUV.

UPDATE: Jenkins' obituary is online, and shows him to be bit of a teddy bear. He loved video games and computers, and spent a lot of time offroading. Known as Jon-Jon to his family and "Tiny" to his friends, Jenkins was willing to help out anyone in need, the obituary says.

NORTH DAKOTA: A 15-year-old driver with his learner's permit lost control of the car he was driving on August 22, and struck and killed a woman who was on the sidewalk.

According to this story in the Jamestown Sun, 60-year-old Christie Morgan was sitting on a folding chair outside the Blockbuster Video in Jamestown. She was selling videos when she was struck.

The driver and a 19-year-old licensed passenger were not identified by police.