Posted on 03/02/2004 6:42:22 AM PST by GailA
7 teenagers die in Millington joyride Why?
By Chris Conley Contact March 1, 2004
A late-night joyride turned to tragedy when a 15-year-old crashed the car he was driving into a tree near Millington, killing himself and six friends.
A passing motorist discovered the crushed car and the teens on Chambers Road, between Quito and Epperson Mill roads, about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Police said they did not know exactly when it happened. The teens, all students at Millington Middle School, were dead when police arrived.
They were identified as Michael Fradella, 15, the driver; and passengers Trey Hannah, 15; Lauren Sutherland, 15; Samantha Stawizynski, 15; Jessica Wallace, 13; Crystal Smith, 13; and Eric Sansone, 14.
The 1991 Mazda Protege topped a low hill at high speed in the westbound lane of Chambers, went airborne, bounded across the eastbound lanes and hit the tree sideways, Shelby County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Shular said.
The tree-lined road runs through a semirural area northwest of Millington.
There was no evidence of alcohol use, Shular said. Routine toxicological tests have been ordered.
Michael was driving on a learner's permit, Shular said.
Tennessee law says that holders of learner's permits must have a licensed driver 21 or older in the car and may not drive between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The four girls had been at a slumber party at Crystal's home, Shular said.
The girls were in the care of Crystal's grandmother, who was not identified.
The girls apparently locked the bedroom door behind them and left through a window. The screen on the window showed signs of being pried open, Shular said.
When deputies arrived at the crash site, they were unable to find any identification, Shular said.
Then a cell phone in the wreckage started ringing, and deputies picked it up. Michael Fradella's father was calling.
Michael Fradella's brother, Joe Fradella, recalled:
"I woke up about 5 o'clock and my dad said, 'I can't find your brother. We need to go look for him.' He had taken the keys to my dad's car while everyone was asleep, around 2 or 2:30. I guess he went out and scooped up his friends."
When they called Michael's cell phone, a police officer answered.
Joe Fradella said he believed the car was traveling about 80 miles an hour and skidded about 60 feet before hitting the tree.
"I guess a joyride, or something," the brother said.
"It's tragic," Shular said. "They all knew each other; they were very close."
Friends and family members converged on the site, at times clogging the road. Car parts were scattered across the area around the tree.
Some visitors had flowers to lay on the ground by the tree.
Others, weeping and being held up by friends, threw themselves down in front of the tree and were pulled away by friends.
The tragedy "is going to make parents pay close attention to where their kids are," said Eddie Matlock, whose stepdaughter was good friends with several of the victims.
He said he became concerned that she was among the victims after hearing about the tragedy. The girl stayed with her father that night as planned, he said.
"But when I first heard about it, I wanted to see her myself," Matlock said.
John Launius, a schoolteacher at Crosspointe Baptist Church, where he had taught some of the children, came to the site to pay his respects.
"They were good kids. A lot of kids loved them," he said, wiping away tears.
Sara Morris , 14, said she had been close friends with both Michael Fradella and Trey Hannah.
She said Michael had just gotten his learner's permit and was excited about it.
Morris said she called Trey "Trey-Trey," and that they often walked to the local library together.
IMMEASURABLE grief envelopes the families and friends of seven Millington teenagers who lost their lives over the weekend. In a tragedy whose effects were felt well beyond northern Shelby county, the seven friends died doing what's called joyriding but so often winds up casting a web of sadness.
Recovering from the death of children is a day-by-day process whose progress is measured out by the teaspoon. The victims' survivors will need the support and understanding of family members, friends and neighbors
The victims were all Millington Middle School students, the oldest a mere 15. They were killed when the car in which they were riding crashed beside a stretch of country road near Millington early Sunday morning. At 2:30 a.m., a passerby discovered the wreckage, along with the bodies of Michael Fradella, Trey Hannah, Lauren Sutherland, Samantha Stawizynski, Jessica Wallace, Crystal Smith and Eric Sansone.
The car in which they were traveling apparently topped a hill at a high rate of speed, left the pavement, crossed to the other side of the road and slammed into a tree.
A number of factors converged to create the community's devastating loss: a 15-year-old driver with a learner's permit only and a love of speed that he embraced at dirt bike races; a group of friends willing to go along with him on a midnight ride in his father's car without his permission or knowledge; four girls slipping out through a window during a slumber party at a grandmother's house to join three boys for a forbidden thrill; a stretch of road that was a challenge to negotiate at high speed.
The tragedy reminds us how fragile our lives are. It speaks to how even children with reputations for good behavior and intelligence - children who are well-loved, well-taught and appreciated - are not immune from making terrible mistakes.
In the immediate aftermath of the accident, flowers at the scene symbolized the sorrow that weighs heavily on those who knew the victims and others who want them to know that they care. The loss was felt throughout the Memphis community.
The accident will prompt a lot of parents to cast off assumptions about where their children are and what they're doing, at least for a time. Some parents will vow not to continue leaving important things unsaid.
More kids, at least temporarily, will have to answer to more strictly enforced curfews and other limits. For some, the deaths of their friends will be a life-changing event.
Sadly, though, this is the kind of history that tends to repeat itself to a degree of regularity.
Many parents will remember joyriding escapades of their own - of speeding along at night on country roads that dip and rise like roller coasters, with the headlights off sometimes - and not thinking too much about how terribly wrong things can go.
When teenagers engage in it, joyriding is the mistake of one who still needs strictly defined boundaries. But how do parents know when to start loosening the ties? When good kids die in an accident like Sunday's, it reminds us of how difficult that decision can be and how as parents we're sometimes called on to play a disciplinary role that makes us unpopular with our own children - a role that appears arbitrary and unfair.
It's not easy, but play the role we must, hoping that they can go on riding their dirt bikes, writing their poems, watching "The Lion King" and "The Little Mermaid," and talking on the phone with friends.
We also want them to continue listening to music we don't particularly like, getting caught up in frivolous teenage fads we don't approve of and - at least occasionally, if not constantly - testing their limits with us, because that's what growing up is all about.
We play that role knowing that even our best efforts might not prevent the unthinkable but that if we try we can can improve the chances that our children will live to test us again.
I'd say he learned that speed kills.
One of the least excellent posts I have ever read.
I'd say at that point for the Christian, the learning is just beginning.
In most states, while driving with a learner's permit, don't you have to have, at very least, a licensed driver in the car?
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