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Posted by: Nightstalker

Apr 22, 2007

Crash kills 4 teens, injures 1

Car slams into tree in Leicester neighborhood

http://telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...704220495/1116

By Milton J. Valencia and Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bminer@telegram.com




LEICESTER— They were close to home, after telling family they would be at Friendly’s restaurant, and Nathan Plaza had to make a midnight curfew Friday after dropping off his friends. But on the way, the car they were riding in smashed into a tree, killing him and three passengers and seriously injuring another passenger in a gruesome crash that rocked at least three communities.

The five teenagers hailed from different towns but were bonded by their love of sports. Police said the five teens wore their seat belts and the air bags deployed. Police said there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved, but police believe speed was a factor in the crash.

“It’s a very, very difficult and tragic situation,” Police Chief James Hurley said, adding that many officers on the Leicester police force know the teens’ families.

He identified the four teens who died as:

• Nathan Plaza, 17, of Leicester, a student at Leicester High School.

• Bryan Rossik, 17, of Leicester, a student at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury.

• Julianne Caron, 18, of North Brookfield, a student at North Brookfield High School.

• Courtney Butcher, 18, of Worcester, a student at the University of New Hampshire.

The fifth teen, Lauren Bennett, 17, of North Brookfield, a student at North Brookfield High School, was listed in serious condition last night at UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus, Worcester.

Family and friends said the five students knew each other through different sports leagues and programs, and Friday night was supposed to be a friendly get-together on the eve of Nathan Plaza’s 18th birthday.

“This is our worst nightmare,” said Robert Leno, Mr. Plaza’s stepfather, yesterday. “I haven’t slept. Nobody’s slept. You just can’t believe it.”

Mr. Plaza was driving a 2007 Scion tC, a vehicle produced by Toyota, which his family bought for him as a high school graduation present, when the crash occurred about 11:45 p.m. Friday. The teens had told their families they were going to Friendly’s and said Mr. Plaza would bring everyone back to Mr. Rossik’s home so that he could make curfew, according to interviews with family.

On the way, the car smashed into a tree outside 186 River St., less than a half-mile from Mr. Rossik’s home and less than a half-mile from Mr. Plaza’s home, in the other direction.

The area’s speed limit is 30 mph, but police believe the car was traveling as fast as 70 mph, according to Chief Hurley. Skid marks stretching some 50 yards were visible on the street, leading toward the tree that the car hit.

An off-duty Leicester police officer told investigators he was on River Street, arriving home, when he saw the car speed by. Then he heard the crash and rushed to the scene.

James Coughlin, the town highway superintendent, said he and his wife were awakened by the crash in his front yard. He first thought a car had pulled into his driveway, but then he saw the wreckage, with car parts scattered tens of feet from the tree, some as close as his front porch. By then, emergency crews arrived and the five passengers were unconscious.

The four people who died were pronounced dead at the scene. Ms. Bennett, who was unconscious but breathing, was rushed to the Worcester hospital.

Police believe the car skidded for some time and then spun when it smacked into the tree on the right side of the road. Chief Hurley said the impact was so severe that the tree came into the driver’s side of the car, the point of impact. Police believe Ms. Bennett was the front-seat passenger.

Chief Hurley said police, with help from the state police accident reconstruction team, were inspecting the vehicle yesterday. He said it appeared the passengers were wearing their seat belts and the air bags deployed.

The chief said early yesterday that police were checking to see if there were any violations of junior driver’s license regulations. . Chief Hurley said later in the day that consultations with the Worcester district attorney’s office concluded no violations had occurred.

“It’s just a tragic loss to all the communities involved,” Chief Hurley said. He said emergency crews were particularly traumatized, considering the young ages of those in the car.

“You just feel helpless,” he said.

Racked by grief, hundreds from North Brookfield gathered last night at the First Congregational Church for a candlelight vigil.

The light of the setting sun and candlelight filled the sanctuary as a solitary acoustic guitarist sang “Amazing Grace” and other hymns to offer solace.

Joe Shea of Campus Ambassadors, a church-supported mission reaching out to college-age students, told those who filled the sanctuary and balcony that “being alone is no place to be in times of tragedy.”

“Being together, pulling together ... when words fail, weeping together is all that we have,” he told the assembly, made up of high school classmates of Ms. Caron and Ms. Bennett and other friends, relatives and acquaintances.

Mr. Shea told a story first related in a book by the late Rev. Basil Pennington of St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer.

He told of a priest who went to a hospital to be with family members after a terrible car accident and how the priest prayed for the right words to say to the family, and of his feelings of inadequacy when words of comfort did not come.

“He wept and cried and grieved with those family members and left feeling he had done nothing to help them in their time of need. And then he received a telephone call asking that he perform the funeral rites. ‘What did I do?’ he asked, and the reply was that it was not what he said, but what he didn’t say.”

Mr. Shea told the congregation that he, like the priest in the story, had no words to bring comfort, but said, “I will sit and cry and weep with you. We will hold onto each other and we will hold onto our faith, because sometimes the best things said are unspoken.”

Lighting his candle from one of two candles on the altar, he said, “Let us now sit in silence, and let one candle light another until we bring light into all those dark places we feel.”

The Rev. Richard T. Carey, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in North Brookfield, said, “It hurts when we lose someone so young, one with so much promise. Tomorrow I’ll have to explain this to 18 first-graders in Julianne’s religious education class.”

Rev. Carey read “Footprints in the Sand” and concluded by praying, “Lord, carry us tonight, and help us to carry one another.”

Throughout the vigil, the names, ages and hometowns of the four deceased crash victims and the survivor were displayed on the wall above the pulpit.

For Ms. Caron and Ms. Bennett, the information was displayed alongside photos of each on the basketball court, holding a basketball.

Rev. Carey, in an interview before the vigil, described Ms. Caron as “an all-around beautiful girl.”

“If I were a father, Julianne is exactly what I’d like to have as a daughter,” Ms. Caron’s parish priest said.

Rev. Carey said Julianne came from a loving and close-knit family, and had a special rapport with the younger kids she taught in religious education.

Her talents and kindness extended to the elderly as well, he said, citing her part-time work at Quaboag on the Common in West Brookfield.

“Julianne had a beautiful smile and that’s what those closest to her will always remember. This is a tragic loss to the Caron family, a tragic loss to the community. Everyone is reeling,” he said.

The crash touched families and friends in many communities. In Worcester, friends visited Ms. Bennett in the hospital, where she remained in serious condition.

“My little girl is alive, but her best friend is dead,” said Paula Bennett, her mother.

Lauren Bennett grew up with Ms. Caron, and they were promising basketball players, each reaching the 1,000-point mark at North Brookfield High School. They met Ms. Butcher through basketball, including the Amateur Athletic Union basketball league.

Ms. Butcher was a standout basketball player at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester before graduating last year. She was nearing the end of her freshman year at the University of New Hampshire.

Jim Reynolds, who coached Ms. Butcher for years and is a friend of the family, said he was devastated by the news of the accident.

Ms. Butcher “was a great kid. She had an unbelievable attitude,” Mr. Reynolds said. “She was a real team player.”

He recalled the enthusiasm Ms. Butcher brought to the game and even to practices. She was a caring teammate, offering encouragement to other players and asking questions about ways to improve her own performance, the coach said.

“She was always looking to make herself better and make her teammates better,” Mr. Reynolds said. “She was like an extra coach among the players.”

In Leicester, the high school will be open from noon to 3 p.m. today for students, Principal Thomas Lauder said, and counselors are also expected to be available for students when classes resume tomorrow morning.

Mr. Lauder said Mr. Plaza planned to attend Springfield College in the fall, with an interest in studying physical therapy.

“Nathan was your all-American boy,” Mr. Lauder said. “A good student, a good athlete. A nice, respectful young man.”

Mr. Plaza was a standout soccer player and also played other sports at Leicester High, Mr. Lauder said. He recalled watching him play baseball Friday afternoon at the Rocket Classic in Auburn.

Mr. Leno said his stepson and Mr. Rossik had been friends for years, through their upbringing in Leicester and sports leagues.

Mr. Rossik, a baseball player himself, planned to attend Assumption College.

On his personal Web site, Mr. Rossik described himself as a varsity athlete and music lover, the eldest of Joe and Cheryl Rossik’s three sons, and a fan of professional sports. He was a junior at St. John’s and a member of the National Honor Society. The site includes a list of his courses, including honors Spanish, as well as a link to a presentation he made with two fellow students for a morality class. A résumé on the site, dated 2006, lists hobbies including baseball, listening to music, “driving around” and learning about Web design, medicine and the human body. He wrote that he was interested in math and science, and he helped with town Little League tryouts and coached baseball.

“I like just chillin with my friends on the weekends and going to parties,” he wrote.

Mr. Leno said Nathan had been driving for some time and never had an accident or speeding ticket.

His birthday is April 25, and he and friends were supposed to celebrate with the family yesterday in a party at his home. But before then, he would have to be home by curfew Friday night. His mother had impressed the importance of curfew on him since he started driving.

“He’s just always been home before midnight,” Mr. Leno said.

Matthew Bruun of the Telegram & Gazette contributed to this report.



Unfortunatly this is another grim reminder of the concequences of teens behind the wheel. Most kids expect to pay fines when caught speeding and being foolish in the vehicle.... These kids paid with their lives!

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Posted by: dcs2244

Nightstalker,

Most of us can point to a pivotal event in our young lives where we survived "coming-of-age" (having had a "near-miss" and saying to ourselves "...don't do that again..."). It happened to me (at the wheel of a 69 Camaro Rally Sport doing about a buck...17 YOA...), and I reckon it has happened to most of you. Unfortunately, some kids don't get a second chance...nothing evil or wrong, just "luck-of-the-draw".

"There but for the grace of G_D..."

RIP.

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Posted by: Nightstalker

DC - Ill tell ya... I admit... i was lucky enough not to lose a friend in high school in this manner... However not everyone is as lucky... if only it didnt take lossing a friend for most of these kids to realize theres not a need to be fast and furious.

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Posted by: Andy0921

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightstalker DC - if only it didnt take lossing a friend for most of these kids to realize theres not a need to be fast and furious.

I know someone who lost a very close friend to a motor vehicle accident and drove like an angle right after the accident. Unfortunately, he’s back to driving like a dope and not wearing his seat belt half the time.

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Posted by: Deuce

Hug yer kids....

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