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WEST JORDAN -- A rollover in front of Copper Hills High School Monday morning left one student dead and several others injured.
The students were returning from doing school-sponsored volunteer work around 9:15 a.m. when the accident happened.
"The Dodge pickup lost control, rolled at least once, ejecting one of the passengers out of the backseat," said West Jordan Police Sgt. Drew Sanders.
Jose Ceballos, 17, was thrown from the back window of a truck. He was one of six people -- four in the backseat -- of the crew cab Dodge pickup. Sanders said such vehicles are often only equipped with three seat belts in the backseat.
Ceballos, who claims on his MySpace page to be from Sonora, Mexico, died at the scene of the crash.
School administrators, teammates react to Ceballos' death
According to Jordan School District spokesman Steve Dunham, Caballos and the others had been excused from school at the time of the rollover to take part in a school activity. The Latinos in Action committee, of which Ceballos was a part, has been reading to students at a nearby elementary school. The activity is part of a class that requires a certain number of service hours, Dunham said.
"He's not a kid that is just one of a student body of 2,400. He's a major player here," Copper Hills High School Principal Todd Quaranberg said Monday, shortly after the accident occurred. He said each student is a valuable asset to the school and that he never figured he'd be dealing with such a situation in his career.
Ceballos was a senior at Copper Hills, involved in student leadership and a member of the school's soccer team.
"I don't even know how to deal with it myself," Quarnberg said. "It's devastating."
Friends, teammates and coaches say they too are devastated.
"He has touched a lot of lives. The whole team is devastated," said club soccer coach Martin Villegas. "It's like losing a son."
"When I first heard, I ran out of class," teammate Nate Villegas said. "I was shocked. I couldn't cope with it."
Ceballos played on the Blue Knights 93 premier soccer team for five years. The team's coaches and captains spoke to Ceballos' parents Monday afternoon.
"You think about family first, how they're feeling, how you can related to them. There's no way to do it, so it's just tough," teammate Chris Lowrimore said.
Cause of accident under investigation
The accident remains under investigation; and while icy roads may have exacerbated the circumstances for the driver, witnesses say the vehicle was traveling at high speeds near 8400 S. Grizzly Way, which runs along the east side of the Copper Hills campus.
Quarnberg told members of the media the vehicle hit the patch of ice on the road and was apparently able to regain control but swerved and hit the curb, causing the truck to roll and ejecting the Ceballos.
Sanders said another vehicle was party to the crash, but it was not involved as it was traveling behind the truck at the time. He said police are unsure if any passengers in the truck were wearing seat belts when it rolled.
Christofer Chavez, a junior at Copper Hills, said the atmosphere at school was somewhat "tense" on Monday as there were a lot of questions circling about.
"There might be a lot of kids at the school, but everyone knows each other and knows who he is," he said. "It's kind of weird having a crime scene right by the school."
"Everyone's really close together," said Dallas Sloan, a senior at Copper Hills. "At the game and stuff, you see people there. Everyone's just really good, and I know everyone's gonna be really hurt when they hear about this."
He has touched a lot of lives. The whole team is devastated.
–Martin Villegas, club soccer coach
The others received minor injuries, "but nothing serious or life-threatening," Sanders said.
This particular Dodge Ram model, make and year was under recall for reported power steering issues, and although Sanders said various parts are being inspected for malfunction, police believe it was how the vehicle was operated that caused the crash and not the vehicle malfunctioning.
Some students say this is a wake-up call for so-called "invincible" teens.
"You don't think it's gonna happen to you, 'cause you're just driving around," Sloan said.
"It just lets you know we do have to be careful I guess," a student named Rachelle said.
Steven Dunham, spokesman for the Jordan School District, called the death of one of their students "very tragic" and said crisis intervention teams, including counselors, will be on site at the high school as long as is needed to help others cope with the loss of a fellow classmate.
Classes at Copper Hills were back in session Monday at the regular hours of 7:55 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. following the holiday break. Sanders said the group was headed north on Grizzly Way at the time of the 9:15 a.m. accident. The names of the driver and other passengers in the car have not been released.
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Story compiled with contributions from Wendy Leonard, Jed Boal and the DMC News Division.
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