Boys overlooked at accident scene, found dead later

JanetElaine

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I had a heck of a time trying to get a good subject line for this one.

GARY, Ind. — The parents of two high school seniors who died in a car crash say their sons were left along the side of a road for several hours after police overlooked them while investigating the accident.
Brandon Smith and Dominique Green, both 18, were killed in the single-vehicle accident early Saturday, according to the Lake County coroner's office. The two other occupants survived the crash and told police and emergency workers that two of their friends were still at the crash site, said Darren Smith, a Gary firefighter and Brandon's uncle.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297079,00.html

:eek::eek:
 
This is horrible. I wonder if autopsies on boys will show if they could have survived their injuries if they had gotten immediate treatment. If the father found them so quickly I don't understand how the police did not see them. I feel badly for all the parents and my prayers go out to them.
 
I had a heck of a time trying to get a good subject line for this one.

GARY, Ind. — The parents of two high school seniors who died in a car crash say their sons were left along the side of a road for several hours after police overlooked them while investigating the accident.
Brandon Smith and Dominique Green, both 18, were killed in the single-vehicle accident early Saturday, according to the Lake County coroner's office. The two other occupants survived the crash and told police and emergency workers that two of their friends were still at the crash site, said Darren Smith, a Gary firefighter and Brandon's uncle.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297079,00.html

:eek::eek:

Well, I didn't have a hard time thinking of a response...

"Damn, that sucks."

Must have been a REALLY bad wreck!!!!!! Especially if it was a SINGLE vehicle accident... yuck!
 
I think something like this happened in the not so distant past in Riverside County, CA. The teen crashed his car and the police and medics couldn't locate him or his body. Then, the parents went to the scene of the accident and found him in some brush. I guess he was thrown from the wreck.

What an awful tragedy.
 
OMG how did this happen? Was it dark out and they didn't know the other two boys were there? I am shocked this could happen.
 
Thats is so sad...prayers for the families of the boys.
 
I hope it won't be found on autopsy that one or both could have survived had they been taken care of right away. That would make this horrible story even worse.
OMG, can you imagine the poor father finding his son out there. I just can not figure how this happened if they were so easy to be found by him.
 
I would have more respect for the cops if they would just admit they didn't do a thorough search. They can't have searched very well or they would have found them. That is terrible for the father to have to go out there and find his son. If the father found them, the cops could have.
 
It was stated on our local news last night that the coroner said that they would not have survived. (I will look for the link) but at least on of the families is hiring someone to do an independent autopsy because they distrust the one performed.

I will look for a link and post it. I think it was the Police chief of the town was on the news and he was defending the police officers. Other than not being very articulate he made comments that to me, if I were a family member of one of the victims, I would find offensive. He showed little compassion at all.


Edit-I originally thought it was the mayor that made the remarks, however it was the police chief.
 
Chief defends officers who failed to find bodies of crash victims, mayor orders internal investigation

~snip~

Two teenagers -- Brandon Smith and Dominique Green, both 18 -- were killed in a car crash on Saturday, September 15. They were thrown from the car and died instantly, according to the Lake County Coroner's Office. Their bodies were found by one of the victim's relatives hours after the crash.

~snip~

"Law enforcement did not cause this accident, "said Chief Thomas Houston, Gary Police Dept.

~snip~

The mayor of Gary has ordered an internal investigation into what happened.


Full article at link http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=5661320
 
I heard on the news this morning (don't remember if it was CNN or Fox) that the two other survivors of the crash told the officers that they couldn't remember if they had already dropped the other two passengers off or not. The officers I guess looked a little bit and then assumed the other two weren't involved.

It's really sad. We had a similar case here. A man was getting ready to get on the interstate. Had just called his family to let them know he was on his way home. He never showed up. His car was found on the on ramp. Some damage but it didn't look too bad. They thought maybe he had walked away and would turn up. Somehow he had wrecked (ran into the guardrail) and was thrown from the vehicle down a sort of ravine. He wasn't found for another day. He died instantly.
 
In the initial article it said that the two others told the officers their two friends were still at the scene (it's actually in the part I quoted). That just kept sticking with me. For them to have told them, yanno? But who knows which is the truth, again.

I do believe these officers dropped the ball... if the accident was so bad that these two died, there had to have been a lot of debri's laying around. I just cannot get my head around that they would not look around more.... I seriously wish they would have.
 
It's terrible that this happened but also a very strong reminder of how important it is to wear your seat belt. I am assuming that neither one of the boys killed was wearing one since they were thrown from the vehichle, a seatbelt may have saved their life.

VB
 
In the initial article it said that the two others told the officers their two friends were still at the scene (it's actually in the part I quoted). That just kept sticking with me. For them to have told them, yanno? But who knows which is the truth, again.

I do believe these officers dropped the ball... if the accident was so bad that these two died, there had to have been a lot of debri's laying around. I just cannot get my head around that they would not look around more.... I seriously wish they would have.
His brother, the victim's uncle, is a member of the Gary Fire Department who said he is also angry that his department was not called to the scene at any point, which he said, is protocol.
found this at the link from gidget641. sounds like at the very least they did not do everything by the book and we will never know what a difference that could have made.
 
It was stated on our local news last night that the coroner said that they would not have survived. (I will look for the link) but at least on of the families is hiring someone to do an independent autopsy because they distrust the one performed.

I think its natural to look for someone else to blame when your child dies, but I'm sure that in this case, the boys who weren't wearing their seatbelts were the responsible party.

And yes, the police chief could have been slightly more empathetic, but we only see clips of what people say in the newspaper -perhaps his comments were taken out of context.
 
I think its natural to look for someone else to blame when your child dies, but I'm sure that in this case, the boys who weren't wearing their seatbelts were the responsible party.

And yes, the police chief could have been slightly more empathetic, but we only see clips of what people say in the newspaper -perhaps his comments were taken out of context.
unless it is found that the boys had a good shot at living had they been taken to a doctor i can see no reason to blame police for their deaths. the police did not drive the car nor tell the boys to not wear seat belts. the emotional hell the father went through is another story. to have 2 children die is bad enough. to have to go search for them then find their bloody bodies on the side of the road and know they laid there for hours and to know the police did not contact the fire department must make this horrible event even harder for the family.
 
I think its natural to look for someone else to blame when your child dies, but I'm sure that in this case, the boys who weren't wearing their seatbelts were the responsible party.

Beth, this is what the mom of one of those boys said:
Jacquelyn Green said she is not blaming anyone for her son's death. But she said that if Arthur Smith was able to find the boys in a matter of minutes, police should easily have been able to find them much sooner.
See initial link.

Nobody is blaming anyone that I have seen. But the officers clearly didn't follow protocol, and their sons were lying there, dead or dying, left alone until someone went to look for them hours later. That hurts. That's wrong. That needs investigated.
 
On every serious accident scene I've driven by the fire dept is ALWAYS there. Yes with all the debris, officers should have looked around especially if the glass was all broken out even if the other two were unable to speak to officers.
 

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