Teen killed, four hurt in Plainfield crash
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Former schoolmates of Twinfield Union School graduate Caidin McKeever visit the site Tuesday on Route 2 in Plainfield village where McKeever was killed at about 2 a.m. when the car he was driving hit the scarred tree in the middle background. Four passengers in the car were injured. STEFAN HARD/TIMES ARGUS |
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By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: June 24, 2009
PLAINFIELD – Dru-Ellen Riggs was at home in Plainfield village early Tuesday morning when she heard the sound of screeching tires followed by a tremendous crash that shook the house.
Riggs ran outside and saw that a car had veered off the road into a cluster of trees on the south side of Route 2 on the western end of the village.
"I saw the taillights over the hill, and knowing what they were likely to run into, I just called 9-1-1," said the 46-year-old Riggs.
The one-car accident killed Caidin McKeever, a 17-year-old who graduated Saturday from Twinfield Union School.
McKeever was driving the 2000 Honda Civic that hit the tree, and he died at the scene, according to the state police.
The four passengers were injured and taken to two different hospitals.
Elijah Mayhew, 17, was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire with multiple chest fractures, police said. A hospital spokesperson said Mayhew, an East Calais resident, was in fair condition Tuesday afternoon.
The three other passengers were taken to Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin.
Kerry Monahan, 21, of Plainfield, was admitted with severe facial cuts, police said. A nurse supervisor at the hospital said Monahan was in good condition.
Adam Sainz, 21, and Stephanie Scelz, 19, suffered minor cuts and bruising and were later released from the hospital, police said. Sainz lives in East Calais, and Scelz lives in Virginia, according to police.
No one in the car was wearing a seatbelt, police said, and they believe speed and alcohol may have contributed to the crash, which took place at about 2 a.m.
Police said they found bottles and cans of beer at the scene — part of the reason they believe alcohol may have been involved.
"That's part of it, but we don't just base it off that," said state police Sgt. Robert Danaher, who was the supervisor at the scene. "We have some other information that leads us to believe that the operator possibly had been drinking prior to the crash, but we won't know how much until we get the results of the toxicology report back."
Danaher said he could have those results within a week.
The amount of damage to the car led Danaher to believe speed may have played a role in the crash.
"The damage to the vehicle was extensive," he said.
Police are piecing together where the occupants of the car were in the 24 hours before the accident, which is standard when there is a fatal accident, said Danaher.
As of now it's unclear exactly where the occupants were and what they were doing before the crash, he said.
"We know at one point they were at the Plainfield rec field," he said. "We're not certain if they were coming from there when the crash occurred, but at some point during the evening they were there."
The investigation will continue, said Danaher.
McKeever was one of 34 members of Twinfield's class of 2009 and attended the school from elementary through high school, said Twinfield Principal Owen Bradley.
Monahan and Sainz were also Twinfield alumni, Bradley said.
McKeever, whom police listed as a Montpelier resident, was a "sweet, fun-loving kid" who enjoyed mountain biking, Bradley said.
"It's very sad, brutally sad," he added.
Bradley said McKeever's friends and members of the Twinfield community were gathering Tuesday to mourn the 17-year-old.
"The students and his friends are visiting with his family now, and they are all just trying to figure their way through this," Bradley said. "We're all just devastated and very sad."
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