4 Killed on Church Group Outing

Another unfortunate entry in my ongoing series of posts involving high speed and young drivers:

Authorities say four young men killed this morning in a fatal single-vehicle crash on the 60 Freeway were part of a church group caravaning to a local ice skating rink and may have been either racing with others in their group or speeding to catch up at the time of the accident.

Witnesses told California Highway Patrol officers that the green 1994 Toyota Camry that crashed was traveling east in the slow lane at high speed about 10:45 a.m. when it veered across the other lanes and struck the center divider twice.

CHP Officer Joe Zizi said witnesses also told officers that the Toyota was traveling near a silver Dodge Neon -- later stopped by investigators for questioning -- at the time of the accident.

Pastor John Lee of Walnut Blessing Korean Church said the young men were all members of his church. He said families of the victims are gathering there this afternoon.

At least two of the dead were among three people thrown from the vehicle, officials said. (In an earlier version of this story, California Highway Patrol officials incorrectly said one of the dead was a woman in her 20s.)

The force of the crash threw one of the deceased across the road's center divider and into westbound lanes, Zizi said. Only one of the men in the car was wearing a seat belt.

The injured and dead include two 17-year-olds, two 18-year-olds and a 21-year-old, Zizi said.

Two men died at the crash site. The others were in critical condition and taken by helicopters to local hospitals, where two others later died. Authorities were still trying to identify the men who were killed.

It doesn't appear that alcohol or drugs were involved, just high speed, driving skills and possibly a vehicle that didn't match up with the conditions, and a lack of seat belts. All of those things could have been avoided.

Given that they were on a church outing at the time, the church's insurance will come into play under the Hired/Non-Owned Auto coverage (which covers autos owned by others but used for church purposes). I had a former client that had a member get in a bad wreck while on the way to a church event, and that accident ended up costing the company $600,000... and that one wasn't even a fatality.