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2012-06-04 04:52:40
By DAN SEWELL | Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) A car carrying five teenagers went airborne as it sped over
railroad tracks in northeast Ohio 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.
The other two passengers, one of them also an impending graduate, were
hospitalized.
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, who was critically injured.
"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, 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, a senior football player, and two passengers, 17-year-old Blake Bartchak
and 16-year-old Lexi Poerner, were killed, the patrol said.
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 was
listed in critical condition. Fox, 18, also was scheduled to graduate Sunday.
The fifth person in the car, identified by troopers as 17-year-old Julia
Romito, was taken to Southwest General Hospital, which wouldn't release
information on her.
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.
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, 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.
___
Contact the reporter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell