Author Topic: Prayers Etc (Read 1736 times)

Ripsnort · « **Reply #15 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:31:50 AM »

deepest sympathies for your friend and his daughter.

Fishu · « **Reply #16 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:39:50 AM »

Thats sad

Hopefully she will make a full recovery

mosgood · « **Reply #17 on:** July 28, 2004, 08:17:45 AM »

Sorry to hear that this happend.

She will be ok and live a long happy life still

Rude · « **Reply #18 on:** July 28, 2004, 09:15:30 AM »

Sorry Funked.....hoping for hope....tell the dad prayer is powerful and he has ours.

Habu · « **Reply #19 on:** July 28, 2004, 09:21:59 AM »

Very sad story. I can't imagine how your friend feels. My prayers are with his daughter.

slimm50 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 28, 2004, 09:25:46 AM »

Funked, I'll offer up both prayers and praise...that she's alive.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 28, 2004, 03:08:17 PM »

More articles:

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10671~2299194,00.html#

Quote

Alcohol could be cause of accident

Coroner releases identities of four victims of fatal I-680 crash

By Simon Read, STAFF WRITER

Evidence suggests alcohol may have been a factor in the Monday night accident that left four young people dead and one critically injured on Interstate 680 near Pleasant Hill, the California Highway Patrol reported Tuesday.
"There was some physical evidence of opened bottles of hard liquor and cans of beer," CHP Officer Tom Maguire said. "But we won't know for sure until we have toxicology and autopsy results."

The accident occurred at 7:15 p.m. on southbound I-680 near Treat Boulevard when a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier collided with a New York Express moving truck, Maguire said.

The driver of the truck had pulled onto the right-hand shoulder of the road just north of the Oak Park Boulevard overcrossing to check on a loose strap, Maguire said. The driver got back in the truck just moments before the crash.

The force of impact ripped the car in half, ejecting Kassandra Kearns, 14, of Martinez from the right front passenger seat onto the roadway. She was transported to John Muir Medical Center with major injuries.

On Tuesday, the hospital had her listed in critical condition, Maguire said. She is expected to live. The car's remaining four occupants were killed, Maguire said.

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Coroner's Office identified them as Matthew Burgos, 18, of Pleasant Hill; Donald Scholter, 22, of Martinez; Kylie Stritt-Fernandez, 15, of Martinez; and the Cavalier's driver, Jacob Johnson, 18, of Martinez.

"All four were wearing their seat belts, and the air bags deployed," Maguire said. "It's just one of those situations where it was an unsurvivable crash."

Investigators are not sure if Kearns was wearing her seat belt, Maguire said.

The moving truck's four occupants -- all from San Francisco -- escaped injury, Maguire said.

Witnesses told investigators the Cavalier was traveling as fast as 85 mph just prior to the accident and weaving in and out of traffic, Maguire said.

For reasons unknown, the Cavalier lost control and swerved to the right, striking the rail that separates Contra Costa Boulevard from southbound I-680, Maguire said.

"The car starts to rotate in a clockwise direction," Maguire said. "The right front end of the car strikes the rail and goes slightly airborne. The whole driver's side struck the back of the truck."

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/9261140.htm?1c

Quote

Parents learn of tragic accident

By Nathaniel Hoffman

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

When their teenage daughters failed to check in Monday night, two angry and worried parents drove around together all night checking all of the girls' hangouts.

They didn't know that one girl already was dead, killed with three other friends in a high-impact crash on Interstate 680. The other girl lay in the emergency room at John Muir Medical Center -- not yet identified by doctors.

"She's made some bad decisions and evidently last night was one of them," said Mike Kearns, sitting outside the hospital Tuesday afternoon. His 14-year-old daughter, Kassandra Kearns, who likes to be called Kasi, remained in critical condition upstairs.

Kearns and her best friend, Kylie Stritt-Fernandez, 15, were riding in a Chevrolet Cavalier about 7:15 p.m. Monday when the car slammed into the back of a large mover's truck parked on the shoulder of I-680 near Treat Boulevard.

The car's driver, Jacob Johnson, 18, had swerved and skidded before the collision that tore the Cavalier in half, California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Maguire said.

Investigators found an open bottle of hard liquor and beer cans in the car. Maguire said alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

Killed instantly were Johnson and Stritt-Fernandez of Martinez, Matthew Burgos, 18, of Pleasant Hill, and 20-year-old Donald Robert Scholter of Martinez. Except for Johnson, all three were sitting in the back seat. All wore seat belts, the CHP said.

The truck driver and three passengers were uninjured, the CHP reported.

Kasi and Kylie were students together at Vicente Martinez High School. Mike Kearns said he had dropped his daughter off at 4 p.m. Monday at a friend's apartment in Martinez to go swimming, with an agreement that she would check in at 8.

When he didn't hear from her, Kearns said he called Kylie's mother. The two began driving around looking for their daughters.

They checked County Hospital and left a note on Donny Scholter's door, before giving up about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Kearns said they hoped the girls were just hanging out somewhere.

"I didn't know what else to do," Kearns said.

When paramedics found Kasi, she had been thrown under the mover's truck. Because she wore only a bathing suit, doctors could not identify her. Then Tuesday morning, her father said, Kasi woke up enough to write down a phone number for a nurse.

Kearns was on his way to an appointment when his wife called him at 7:30 a.m. and they rushed to the hospital. Maguire said Kasi is expected to live.

People at Victoria's Cafe in Martinez, where Kylie and her mom frequently ate, described her as a beautiful girl.

"She had a beautiful face," said Evelyn "Peaches" Vanni, who was going to teach Kylie to knit.

Vanni's granddaughter, Rebecca Vanni, went to school with Kylie through eighth grade.

She said last time she saw her, Kylie had been working out and was proud of her progress.

"I feel really bad for her mom," Rebecca said.

Kasi met the three older boys at a graduation party about a month ago, her brother Tommy Taylor said.

"She's in the party life," Taylor said, and he had talked to her about slowing down a bit.

Matt Burgos, a recent College Park High School graduate, started a new job last week at a company in Concord.

"He's a very mature kid," said his mother, Yohlee Burgos.

His family had expected Matt Burgos home about 7 p.m. Monday. They got a visit from officers at 11 p.m. with the news of the crash.

Matthew Burgos was into breakdancing and hip hop and went to San Ramon almost every week to practice his moves, said his older brother, Sherwin Burgos.

"He wanted to get into music because of that," Sherwin Burgos said, adding that his brother was taking classes at Diablo Valley College and wanted to transfer to UC San Diego.

Amber Roberson, 19, said she met Jacob Johnson when he was 11 years old and a grade behind her in school.

"He was like a little brother to me," Roberson said. "He was always happy and outgoing. (Jacob) was funny, too. When I was upset he would slap me on the back or roll down the hill behind College Park (High School) to make me laugh."

CHP officers said Johnson had an address in Pittsburg, but the Contra Costa Coroner's Office said he was from Martinez. His family members could not be located for comment.

While Johnson was the outgoing type, Roberson described "Donny" Scholter as a quiet and laid-back kind of guy whom she met through friends a few months ago.

"It's weird," she said, "'cause I just saw them like two weeks ago."
Kelli Phillips contributed to this story.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 28, 2004, 03:10:33 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by J_A_B
Funked, you missed my point entirely.

They might not have hit the truck at all if they were in a car that could actually cope with the weight of 5 people. A Cavalier can't; that car is a complete piece of crap. Immediate cause of the accident seems to be Failure to Control, and at highway speeds in small cars overloading or improper loading is a COMMON contributing factor in such accidents.

J_A_B

I would think that the driver being ****faced drunk and driving like a maniac might have been a bigger factor than overloading.

Pongo · « **Reply #23 on:** July 28, 2004, 03:25:08 PM »

Down there do they put little grave yards beside the road where an accidident kills kids, seems that way up here. We had one that killed 4 last year and there are still 10 or more little shrines there.

Very sad Funky to get killed or badly injured so young.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 28, 2004, 03:35:38 PM »

PS Thanks everybody, it looks like she is going to make it.

demaw1 · « **Reply #25 on:** July 28, 2004, 03:56:02 PM »

sorry funked1 I am glad she will make it.We will be happy to include her in our prayers.

Nilsen · « **Reply #26 on:** July 28, 2004, 04:51:18 PM »

my deepest sympathies for your friends situation......very sad

AWMac · « **Reply #27 on:** July 28, 2004, 09:23:56 PM »

Funked Prayers are included from my family to the Kearns Family and the other Families. We are glad she made it. We also pray that she will have a speedy recovery.

Sad situation, very sad.

snapperhead · « **Reply #28 on:** July 28, 2004, 09:27:09 PM »

Damn shame.........hopefully she will pull thru.

J_A_B · « **Reply #29 on:** July 29, 2004, 05:40:16 AM »

"I would think that the driver being ****faced drunk and driving like a maniac might have been a bigger factor than overloading."

Of course the alcohol/gross recklessness was the greater cause, but that is no reason to ignore all additional contributing factors!

Anyway, it's a sad reality that kids these days seem to kill themselves through their own recklessness entirely too often. When I was in high school a few of my classmates killed themselves in a similar manner (alcohol/excess speed). My sentiment of "it was their own fault" made me rather unpopular at the time but I stand by it, then and now. I sympathize with their families who have to cope with the loss. That is the tragedy--losing your loved ones to something so pointless, so preventable.

J_A_B