Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Lori Prichard reportingWhat started as a fun afternoon between rivals at a high school basketball tournament ended in tragedy. A group of students chasing one another in cars crashed. Now a 17-year-old West High School student is dead and three others are in the hospital.
Some students gathered at West High School tonight after hearing the news. We're told about 20 students showed up after hearing one of their classmates was killed in a car accident.
Ogden police say this crash should have never happened because it was really a case of one kid not paying attention to the road. Police say he was trying to catch up with his girlfriend, who was riding in another car.
The scene is any parent's worst nightmare: cars mangled, lives changed forever. Police say a group of five students left the Snow Canyon versus West High basketball game at the Dee Events Center in Ogden around 2:00 this afternoon. Another car, with three students inside, tried to catch up, because, according to police, the boy driving saw his girlfriend in the other car.
Lt. David Tarran, with the Ogden Police Dept., said, "Unfortunately this man in vehicle number one wasn't driving with his head, he was driving with his emotions. He was not paying attention to what he should have been, and that's the traffic, instead of what his girlfriend was doing."
Police say as he raced to catch up with the car, he clipped the back of it, sending it spinning into oncoming traffic. The black Infiniti t-boned the car with the boy's girlfriend riding inside. She was killed.
Jason Olsen, a spokesman for West High School, said, "It's hard for some of these students, and it's been a tough night for many of them."
School officials suspect tomorrow won't be any better. Of the nine people involved in the accident, five went to Granger High, three went to West.
Olsen said, "They have a whole counselor team, crisis team ready to come into the school tomorrow."
As for the boy who caused this mess, Ogden police won't say if they plan to press charges. But they will say this should be a lesson for all teenagers.
Lt. Tarran says, "The lesson learned is applicable to all teenagers: drive with your head, and don't drive with your emotions."
Again, grief counselors will be at the high school tomorrow.
Police tell us there are three other students in the hospital tonight; one of them is in serious condition. Authorities weren't able to tell us if any of them was wearing a seat belt.
