Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Boy, 13, who was driving truck that smashed into USW van killing himself, his dad, six students and their golfing coach 'was Mennonite who accidentally burned his house down
Daily Mail UK ^ | March 17, 2022 | Janon Fisher and Adam Manno

Posted on 03/17/2022 6:35:50 PM PDT by Morgana

A 13 year-old boy blamed for a crash that killed himself, his dad, six students and their golf coach set his house ablaze shortly before Christmas, a family friend has claimed.

The unidentified youngster, killed alongside eight other people in Andrews, Texas, on Tuesday, burned down his family's home after leaving eggs unattended on a stove, family friend Aganetha Siemens said.

'Just before Christmas, their house burned down,' she said. 'The 13-year-old made some eggs and forgot about it.'

She is not related to the boy or his dad, Heinrich Siemens, 38. Heinrich was a father of five, with his family part of the Mennonite church.

The youngster was driving the family's Dodge truck when it crossed the median onto the wrong side of the road, slamming into a bus carrying eight University of the South West golf students, with six of those golfers and their coach all killed.

Aganetha told DailyMail.com: 'I couldn't imagine going through all that and then to have this happen,' she said. 'It's just so sad.' She added that no-one had been hurt in the blaze.

Funeral services are being planned at the Mennonite Evangelical Church in Seminole, Texas, where the family lives.

Two male students were pulled from the wreckage of Tuesday's crash alive and airlifted to hospital.

The NTSB revealed the age of the driver on Thursday, but have yet to identify him. They said that the car the boy was driving suffered a front-left tire blowout, and that that tire was a spare.

They have not offered further information on why he was driving, how he was related to Siemens.

The legal driving age in Texas, where the fatal accident took place, is 16 years old.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: amish; isearched
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last
To: BobL
Leaving something cooking on the stove at our age means we are getting senile.

At 13 year old boy doing it means he's not responsible enough to be cooking (at least without supervision) much less driving a truck.

21 posted on 03/17/2022 6:56:52 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: madison10

and the fact he was going the wrong way


22 posted on 03/17/2022 6:57:44 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

My dad would let me drive to Jr High School in his 1970 Eldorado when I was 13 in 1973. I would pull up to the curb and he would take over and drive to his Auto Mechanic Garage a couple blocks away.

When we travelled cross country, my mom, dad, brother and me would take turns driving.

By the time I took driver’s ed, our instructor would just tell me where to go and he would grade papers in the passenger seat. But with the other 2 kids in the car he would ride his brake.


23 posted on 03/17/2022 7:01:24 PM PDT by shotgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

It’s possible that the story about the fire was a cover up for a more nefarious deed.


24 posted on 03/17/2022 7:04:41 PM PDT by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.p)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: madison10
"Thirteen year olds are plenty old enough to cook and many drive tractors. Looks like the tire blowout might have been the issue."

Wait, your argument is that a 13 year old can cook so him driving at a high rate of speed the wrong way is somehow OK??? What are you talking about???

25 posted on 03/17/2022 7:06:34 PM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Fai Mao

My Old Order Amish relatives in Middlefield, Ohio would look like I was crazy if I said something like that to them. They would never ever claim to be Mennonites in any way, shape or form. Mennonites are as English as anyone with the partial exception of clothes and a cap and even then, the Mennonites clothes are more modern. As time goes on, the difference widens. There are some Mennonites you would never know it unless they told you.


26 posted on 03/17/2022 7:10:15 PM PDT by Dave W
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Tire blew and pulled the truck across the road. I wonder if the boy, who shouldn’t have been driving, did not have the strength to hold the truck in position till he pulled off the road. I wonder if the father could have.

When I was young my right tire blew and it did pull the car to the right and I applied the brake gently and had a devil of a time controlling the car to make it go in a straight line.

Sad story but the father shouldn’t have had this boy driving.


27 posted on 03/17/2022 7:11:26 PM PDT by Beowulf9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BobL

Cooking at 13? Not unusual and I hardly think boiling eggs is cooking and in rural areas driving underage isn’t that unusual either


28 posted on 03/17/2022 7:12:55 PM PDT by Dave W
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

You can’t make up weirder headlines than are coming out daily. The Bee can’t compete with the truth.


29 posted on 03/17/2022 7:14:26 PM PDT by culper jr (My tagline is fake news.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

He wasn’t going the wrong way...the tire blew and it crossed the line.


30 posted on 03/17/2022 7:14:42 PM PDT by Dave W
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Dave W

I have been wrong before. But I think they they both developed from the teachings of Menno Simons.


31 posted on 03/17/2022 7:16:37 PM PDT by Fai Mao (I don't think we have enough telephone poles.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

I am so old that I took Driver’s Ed and got my learner’s permit at 13 here in Texas per the law then. Took my test and got my license on my 14th Birthday.


32 posted on 03/17/2022 7:19:27 PM PDT by sockmonkey (Conservative. Not a Neocon.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sockmonkey; shotgun

In my state we were not allowed to get a learners until age 15 and drivers lic. until age 16


33 posted on 03/17/2022 7:22:59 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Fai Mao
But I think they they both developed from the teachings of Menno Simons.

That or the weary coach's method of Ennie Meenie Simon say-O...

34 posted on 03/17/2022 7:23:44 PM PDT by Fightin Whitey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: sockmonkey

Dang. I had to wait until I was 15, for Driver’s Ed, then...16, to get my DL.


35 posted on 03/17/2022 7:36:47 PM PDT by Jane Long (What we were told was a “conspiracy theory” in 2020 is now fact. 🙏🏻 Ps 33:12)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Wonder if the house burning was a failed suicide or homicide attempt, and that the last one was successful.


36 posted on 03/17/2022 7:46:13 PM PDT by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
Second what stupid ass parent lets their 13 year old drive more so after he burned the house down after forgetting he was cooking something?

Don't you believe in second chances? 🤣🤣🤣

37 posted on 03/17/2022 7:50:11 PM PDT by montag813
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Bad seed


38 posted on 03/17/2022 7:58:53 PM PDT by 11th_VA (I can still remember an America where dissent was the highest form of patriotism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Missed that.


39 posted on 03/17/2022 8:29:41 PM PDT by madison10
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

I’m unconvinced that any of these were “accidents”.


40 posted on 03/17/2022 9:26:13 PM PDT by grimalkin (Communism is the final logic of the dehumanization of man. -Fulton J. Sheen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson