Four teens are killed in Leicester car crash
LEICESTER -- Four teenagers apparently trying to make a curfew died late Friday when the speeding car they were in slammed into a tree in one of the worst motor vehicle accidents involving Massachusetts teens in the past 20 years.
The driver, 17-year-old Nathan Plaza of Leicester, was probably rushing to get his passengers home to make a midnight curfew after going out to eat at a nearby Friendly's when the crash occurred, his stepfather said.
Police said Plaza lost control of his 2007
Even though all five occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts, police said, four died in the crash, including Plaza and Rossik.
"He was the light of our lives," said Bryan's father, Joe Rossik, in an interview at his home last night. "We were so, so proud of him. He was bright, ambitious, all of his friends loved him, his two brothers looked up to him."
"All of his friends have been here all day. They're all upset by what happened. He was a good kid, never got into any trouble, never had the police come to our house, ever," said Bryan's mother, Cheryl, who added that he had recently been accepted to Assumption College in Worcester.
Also killed in the accident was Courtney Butcher, 18, of Worcester, a first-year student at the University of New Hampshire . The fourth teenager killed, Julianne Caron, 18, of North Brookfield, was a student at North Brookfield High School.
The sole survivor -- 17-year-old Lauren Bennett, also a student at North Brookfield High -- was listed in critical condition last night at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
"It looks like speed was definitely a part of it," said a distraught Robert Leno , Plaza's stepfather, who had given his stepson the car as a present in advance of his upcoming graduation. "Some of the girls had to get to Brookfield, and that's probably why he had to rush."
Normally, Leno said, his stepson rarely drove fast and sometimes had to be prodded to go faster. "He's not a kid that drank. He's not a kid that got into trouble."
Police agreed that speed -- but not alcohol -- was a factor in the 11:45 p.m. accident, which ranks among the deadliest crashes involving Massachusetts teenagers since 1990. Four girls died in a 1998 crash in Athol, and in 1990 , four Palmer teens died in a fiery crash as they fled police, according to newspaper archives.
Police Chief James J. Hurley said the state's newly toughened law for young drivers states that a person age 21 or older with a driver's license must be in the front seat if there are passengers under 18 years old in the car.
"I would like to encourage all parents to review the junior operator's license and talk to your children about speed," Hurley said. "None of us ever wants to be in this position ever again."
The four youths had become close friends through the year, especially Plaza and Rossik, Rossik's parents said. Rossik had planned to attend Assumption with more than a dozen of his classmates, his parents said.
News of the crash sent shock waves through this town of 11,000 residents 5 miles west of Worcester, where Plaza was a senior at Leicester High .
The crash occurred on the front lawn of the town highway superintendent and down the street from a police officer, who immediately went to the scene. Plaza's mother heard about the accident on the police scanner.
Before the wreckage had been cleared, Leno said, members of Plaza's soccer team, which won the state championship last year, came to the crash site.
"It's a small, little town. Everybody knows everybody here," said Leno, standing in front of his neat white-clapboard house less than half a mile from the crash scene. As he spoke, a sobbing neighbor came to the door to hug him. "Everybody has been so supportive," he said.
Leno said his stepson was an excellent gymnast as well as a soccer and baseball player -- "The kid was in unbelievable shape" -- and he planned to attend Springfield College in the fall.
Rossik was a baseball player who was about to graduate from St. John's High School in Shrewsbury.
Kim Billings, a spokeswoman for the University of New Hampshire in Durham, where Butcher was in the School of Health and Human Services , said: "We send our condolences to her family and friends. Staff from student and academic services are working this weekend to identify her classmates and friends at UNH so we can . . . offer them any support they may need."
In a separate fatal accident yesterday fewer than 10 miles away, a 41-year-old man was killed after he lost control of his car on Route 146 north in Millbury.
The victim, identified as Alfred F. Nigro of Northbridge, was thrown through the sunroof of a 2002 Jeep Liberty about 5:45 a.m. as the vehicle rolled over. Authorities said he had no passengers and was not wearing a seat belt.
State Police Sergeant Robert Bousquet said speed may have been a factor. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
In Leicester, police said Plaza attempted to stop the car just before impact, leaving two thin skid marks leading from the left-hand side of the road to the old oak tree on highway superintendent James Coughlin's front lawn.
The driver's side of the Toyota slammed into the tree, trapping the passengers inside and scattering car parts almost as far as Coughlin's porch. The sound woke up Coughlin, who reached the accident in seconds .
Bennett, who had been in the front passenger seat farthest from the impact with the tree, still had a pulse, and firefighters used a mechanical device to remove her first.
Over the next three hours, the other victims were removed and pronounced dead at the scene.
"It was tough for the personnel," said Fire Chief Robert Wilson .
"We treated one patient . . . and then you just had to wait for the others. You feel helpless."
Police declined to say why they thought Plaza was driving so fast or where he was going before the accident, but Leno was convinced he had a pretty good idea.
He said Plaza, Rossik, and the three young women had gone to a Friendly's restaurant in nearby Auburn, but several of them, including Plaza, were expected home by midnight, leaving them little time.
Leno said he thought Plaza was rushing all of them to Rossik's house, where the three women had left their cars.
"We always told him don't worry about the extra five minutes," said Leno, noting that his stepson had never had an accident or a ticket.
"If anything comes of this, tell the kids to slow down."
Michael Levenson of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent John M. Guilfoil contributed to this report. Scott Allen can be reached at allen@globe.com. 