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Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer
Sean Egan embraces Brandon Davies as the Brunswick High School students mourn at the site of a fatal crash on Boston Road in Columbia Township on Sunday.
A car carrying five teenagers went airborne as it sped over railroad tracks early Sunday and crashed, killing the 18-year-old driver hours before his high school graduation and two of his passengers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
A fourth teen, who was airlifted from the scene, died Monday at the Metrohealth Medical Center, the Plain Dealer reported.
Less than 13 hours after the crash, Brunswick High School students left empty seats covered with flowers at their graduation ceremony to remember driver Jeffrey Chaya and Kevin Fox, the student who died Monday.
"It was very sad," Superintendent Michael Mayell said after the commencement ceremony at the University of Akron. "There were a lot of tears."
The 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier was traveling at a high speed just after midnight when Chaya lost control in Columbia Township in northeast Ohio, troopers at the Elyria post said. The car went airborne and off the right side of the roadway, then swerved across the left side of the road, hit a ditch and tree, then flipped over, according to the troopers' report.
Chaya, front-seat passenger Blake Bartchak, 17, and back-seat passenger Lexi Poerner, 16, died in the crash, according to The Chronicle-Telegram newspaper.
Cleveland's Plain Dealer reported that Chaya and Bartchak were close friends, having first met in fourth grade when Chaya moved to the neighborhood. The two were together "constantly," Chaya's parents told the newspaper.
Fox, a back-seat passenger, was thrown from the car into a ditch, troopers said. He was flown to Cleveland Metro Health Medical Center where he died Monday.
The fifth person in the car, identified by troopers as 17-year-old Julia Romito, was taken to Southwest General Hospital. The Plain-Dealer said reported she was in stable condition in surgical intensive care.
Peggy Turbett / The Plain Dealer
Colin Curtis, left and Sobhit Haribakthi, seniors who graduated from Brunswick High School Sunday, grieve during a prayer service at St. Ambrose Church..
'Very popular students'
Fox and Chaya were called during the commencement, which included a moment of silence and comments about the tragic accident, Mayell said. More than 600 students graduated Sunday.
Grief counselors were available to meet with students at the high school later in the day. Memorial services were held Sunday evening at a church and a performing arts center.
"We want to allow the families to grieve in peace, and do whatever we can to get through this very tragic situation," Mayell said.
Troopers were still investigating the crash Sunday. They said the only confirmed factor was unsafe speed, although they were still calculating the car's estimated speed.
Peggy Turbett / The Plain Dealer
Angel Smith, left, Samantha Aborub, and Charlotte Sigel, friends of Lexi Poerner and graduates of Brunswick High School in 2010, mourn during the candelight service for Brunswick High School victims.
Mayell has known Poerner's family for years, and said the students who were killed were well known at school, taking part in school activities and volunteering.
"They were very popular students, very well-liked," Mayell said. "We've always been a very tight-knit community," he said. "It's one of those things that happens that I just don't get."
Chaya, a wide receiver on the Brunswick High football team, was the kind of teen with a lot of "best friends," his mother Paula Chaya told the Plain Dealer.
"He just loved being around his friends, and he had a ton of people who loved him," she told the newspaper.
Chaya had posted Saturday on his Twitter account: "Weird to think graduation is tomorrow time does fly big time."
On Saturday, graduating seniors at another northeast Ohio high school wore special red and black ribbons as a sign of unity and remembrance in the aftermath of the Feb. 27 Chardon school shootings that killed three students and wounded two others.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The police will also find that 30 text messages and ten cell calls were sent from inside the car in the 20 minutes leading up to the crash and three or four were in process at the time of the crash. And one cam phone recording for youtube!
And yet the parents still send them off..... 'Oh be safe sweety! and don't forget your PHONE!"
Jello heads!
Im sick of people using phrases such as its a "very tragic situation" or "It's one of those things that happens that I just don't get." Of course you get it!!! Nothing in this situation lends itself to being that naive. Every year we get to read dozens stories like this, and every year we hear how the kids allegedly impacted by these events break out the armbands (or whatever symbol they contrive) as a show of remembrance. Yet every year, the stupid still comes out in the form of drinking and high speed driving because ya just gotta "live on the edge." These types of deaths are no longer "tragic" or a surprise to anyone. It fits into the same category as a news reporter who goes into a war zone and gets killed so that they "can ride the lightning" or "go into the fire." These are not tragedies...these are the results of conscious decisions made by people who create danger to feel a thrill, and sometimes that danger becomes a reality when you fall off the edge.
I feel for the family and curse the sadness they feel that has been caused by their idiot kid!!!! I bet he's "popular" now isnt he!!!
Dave,how about having all the facts before you make nasty statments about the victims and the families. There was nothing said in the article about alcohol or drugs. Yes they were driving at a high rate of speed and they probably should have known better. But we are talking about teenagers who tend to be fearless and don't think about their mortality. It might very were well turn out they were drinking to celebrate the upcoming graduation of two of them. That doesn't give you the right to refer to the kid who was driving as an idiot or to make disparaging remarks about him. You say you feel for the family while at the same time you are insulting their child. Try and show some real compassion. My condolences to the familes of the three dead teens. And I pray that the two who were injured will survive.
Didn't know them but I have an irrestisible desire to light a candle and throw a teddy bear on a roadside memorial.
I have to admit, in this case God did perform the miracle. Wow! Five people in the car, but god the almighty let two souls live on the earth and other three he sent them to heaven. Praise the Lord! so that God can be motivated to perform more miracles, like this one, in future a lot.
Dukes of Hazzard strikes again!... I did this in my GTO when I was young, had a nice high farmers bridge I would jump at 100 mph and go completely airborne... alone though. I thank my lucky stars I survived all my stupid youthful antics.
This a such a shame but most kids do drive way to fast but not only kids adults also But people are killed at speeds as low as 35-40 m.p.h. My heart goes out and prayers to their family
Oh, so sad and tragic. Lost a brother to a wreck 2 years ago. My son is on his way now with 2 friends to Houston, TX from GA and I am frantic, but, he's with good kids and I'm hoping for the best. My sincere condolences are with the families of the teens that lost their lives. RIP
As in the song.................Gone too soon.
When I think of the things I done those many years ago, in my teens, I feel so fortunate to be alive. What can we do to convince teens they are not invincible? What can we do to convince teens that the most dangerous thing they will ever do is drive a vehicle? So sad! My condolences to the family. I won't waste my time saying bad things about the dead! They have already paid the supreme sacrifice for their mistake. My heart goes out to the survivors and the family of the dead. Good Day,Joe.
I'm pretty sure I know the tracks they were trying to jump. It's a big bump. Even going 25-35mph would launch you pretty good. Jumping tracks plus alcohol, weed, etc is not a good combo.
My deepest sympathies to the parents of these kids, especially the parents of the driver. Many years ago my brother was the driver of a car involved in an accident in which he was killed. The two boys with him thankfully survived without injuries. I remember my mother saying at the time that the only thing worse than my brother dying would have been him being the causr of one or both of the other boys dying as well. As for the speculation about drugs and/or alcohol being involved, I wish everyone would just hold their opinions and judgements to themselves. Regardless of the cause of the accident, these families are enduring a pain that none of you can comprehend unless you have walked in their shoes.
How many times do we see the same story of kids being killed shortly before or after graduation? Your heart has to go out to the families and friends of these kids. There but for the grace of God go I.
I feel so sorry for the families and my prayers are with them as I know how they feel. I too am from Ohio and the same thing happened to my cousin when she was going to graduate. Her car flipped with her friends inside as well. Very sad. My prayers are with them all.
This is so sad & yet so preventable. This happened probably 5 miles from my in-laws home & being from out of state let me tell you how TERRIBLE Ohio railroad tracks are. Yes, the kids were speeding, yet when you feel like crashing while going 30 mph over railroad tracks you would think the state would do something! It took my husband 2 years to realize that Iowa railroad tracks were different & you can safely go the speed limit (55) over them, unlike Ohio railroad tracks. I feel awful for these families. My heart goes out to them.
This is really sad. Speeding at that hour of the night when they should be home in bed. Forgive me for being just blatant about this but what happens when you test the limits of something? Either good or bad. Either way why do it. Speeding is fun right? I was a kid too. SO the outcome wasnt good. We all wish we could make the right decisions but this could have been avoided. I have read that there is no such thing as a accident. If those kids were going the speed limit then they would have a future now. So I am saying that this is a good reason to tell kids not to speed. Not preach but warn them. Good kids are gone now for one act of a dangerous fun ride.
The way this article is written you would think the car just decided on its own to travel at a high speed and then leap into the air. Reckless driving, not the car, killed these teenagers. Even though the driver paid the ultimate price, I'm still angry at him. Lives cut short for the sake of fast driving.
Amen
Kids these days think they're invincible.
News flash-kids, especially teens, have ALWAYS thought they were invincible. Too bad parents aren't teaching them otherwise.
They always have. I am 70 and remember many things from my youth which make me wonder how we made it.
"These days." Guess what? Our parents said the same thing. Back in the day, seatbelts were those annoying things you tucked down into seats to keep them out of the way. The drinking age for many states was 18, so there were countless drunk, seatbelt-less teens on the road on any given weekend. Add to that the fact that many of the boys drove cars with 'souped up' engines, and it was nothing short of a miracle that many of us are alive today. Teens have been engaging in risky behaviors forever and unfortunately, they will probably always continue to do so.
I feel bad for the other two and there families...the driver get my Darwin award!
You deserve the Darwin Award for being so cold and heartless
Joe, I am with you on that. I think of the dumb things I did as a teen as well, and lived to tell about it. Many people our age probably can tell similar tales. It is scary when you look back at it. Hopefully we can encourage todays kids not to be that reckless. It is not worth the cost.
This accident happened where I live. The high school is like a ghost town today and a pall hangs over what would normally be a happy time. The accident happened just a few miles south of a similar tragedy that occurred on August 27, 1999 when three youths died in a wreck involving high speed and a tree.
This carnage has to stop. Meanwhile I offer prayers and condolences to the victim's family and friends for their loss...
Those tracks are terrible :( Our friend was first on scene...just horrific. I feel terrible for the familes.
The mourning is important, but so are the hard lessons learned. For the parents of kids in Brunswick (including Caity and I) we take this accident and impart the lessons to our children. It is not through mourning alone that history is not ...repeated. Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." This event happened because our city needs change. As far as I am aware, there is still a curfew in this city. Yes. The driver was 18. His passengers were not. Why were they not at home? What if they had hit another car? What if they had hit a house? How is it that five teenagers can drive down the road doing 75 mph and not a single cop takes notice or is notified? Yes. Mourning is important, but we can't allow it to turn our heads away from the cause. I mourn the pain of the surviving families. I mourn the pain of the parents who thought their teens were safe at a friend's house. I mourn the pain of the surviving class of 2012 who will always associate what should be a joyous day with the sorrow caused by the hand of death. Depression does not promote change; frustration does, and I am frustrated at the pain caused by such a horrible decision! This is not "I told you so"; this is not me being negative; this is me calling for positive change in our community!
So very sad and such a shame.
This article was SO poorly written. First of all they stated Three teens were killed but NEVER mentioned the names/ages of the other two, only the one who was graduating. It's as if the death of the other two (innnocent passengers btw) didn't mean anything! I can't imagine who the parents of those other teens killed must feel. Also this was not just one of those 'things that happen'. This was a decision by a not too bright teenager to speed and possibly be driving drunk! Too bad his friends didn't use better judgement and get the hell out of the car and walk! If parents would raise and teach their children that cars are NOT toys and spend more time with them rather than just hand them everything they want perhaps this wouldn't happen so often. The schools do what they can to teach the dangers of driving fast, drunk, with a carload of friends etc. but it is really UP TO THE PARENTS!! You remember them, they are the ones who created you then promised to do their best to let you grow up with some amount of intelligence. These stories (especially during June) are getting far too common.
My sincerest sympathies to the families of the TWO other teens who were killed but not important enough to mention.
@ Ophotfoot, you are a Marijuana junkie. The body, when introduced to Marijuana, causes an affect in which the person to which has taken the drug, has a slow reaction time. Therefore, you are impared for quite some time. It is an addictive drug, which in fact, when laced with cocaine, can cause people act in poor behavior. Legalizing Marijuana, a drug, THAT DOES HARM THE BODY, it out right ridiculous. No one knows if these kids were drinking, but if they were, the affects of alcohol/Marijuana cause you to be under the influence in one form or another. Marijuana smoking causes blurred vision, which could cause someone to see double while driving, and there have been deaths in relation to Marijuana use. It is addictive, and people do kill for the drug!!! People don't kill people very often for some liquor, but for Marijuana, in a heartbeat!!
Spoken like a true pot head. Or have you ever?
Unfortunately this happens every year at graduation somewhere in America. Prayers for all those who have been affected by this loss.
My heart and prayers go out to these kids and their families and I hope that everyone who reads this story will learn from it not just teenagers either