HolyCoast: Teens in Fatal Crash in Westminster
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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Teens in Fatal Crash in Westminster

It looks like I'm going to have another sad entry in my "Teen Drivers" posts.  I was listening to the fire department channel this afternoon and heard a call for a "TC Cut & Rescue" in Westminster involving a truck down in a flood control channel with a person trapped.  Upon arriving at the scene the first engine in confirmed that two victims were out of the truck but one was trapped between the truck and the bottom of the channel.  According to the radio it appeared to be a "traumatic full arrest" but they couldn't even get to the patient until the truck was moved.  "Traumatic full arrest" is firefighter-speak for someone who has been killed in an accident.

Details are starting to come out and from TV reports it sounds like these were three kids from a local Westminster-area high school.  I graduated from the other Westminster-area high school (La Quinta) a very long time ago but this still hits a little close to home.  From The OC Register:
One person died after the driver of a pickup lost control and rolled the vehicle into a flood-control channel, police said.

Officers responded to the fatal traffic accident near Rancho Road and Spa Drive about 3 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

"It appears to be a solo vehicle accident where the driver lost control, drove through a chain-link fence and dropped into the flood-control channel," Westminster officer Van Woodson said.
The channel has vertical sides and an approximately 20-foot drop, Woodson said. The pickup landed at an angle, partially on its side and partially on its roof.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene, Woodson said. It wasn't immediately clear if the person was the driver or a passenger in the pickup.

Two other people were taken to the hospital with unspecified injuries.
The accident site is not far from Westminster High, and the time of the accident would be consistent with students heading home from school. More info as it becomes available.

UPDATE:  KNBC identifies the fatality as 18-year old Kody Kessler from Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach.
One person was killed and two others were hurt Wednesday when a driver lost control of a Chevrolet pickup truck and crashed into a flood-control channel, Westminster police said. All three in the pickup attended local high schools.

The truck rolled and crashed into the flood-control channel at Rancho Road and Spa Drive about 3 p.m., Westminster police Officer Van Woodson said.

Kody Kessler, 18, of Westminster, was declared dead at the scene by arriving rescuers. Kessler attended Ocean View High School, Van Woodson said.

Two other teens crawled out of the pickup and climbed to the top of the flood-control channel. Neighbors helped the teens get over a hurricane fence.

Van Woodson described the injuries of the two survivors as non-life threatening.

Westminster police said Jared Von Grote, 18, of Huntington Beach and a Marina High School student was the driver of the pickup.

Kristopher Howell, 18, of Huntington Beach and an Ocean View High School student was the second passenger in the pickup.

1 comment:

HopeGrows247 said...

That's horrible. God, bless their families!!! *sigh*