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A Honda Accord carrying six Lodi High School students crashed into a tractor trailer Friday on Guild Avenue north of Lodi Avenue. The driver and a passenger were taken to the hospital from the scene. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)
Lodi teens ditch school, crash car into tractor trailer on Guild Avenue
Six Lodi High School students ditched school Friday morning, but their fun was short-lived because their car soon crashed headlong into a parked tractor trailer on Guild Avenue.
The unlicensed driver and a passenger remained at the scene north of Lodi Avenue due to their injuries, but four other teens ran, one leaving a distinct trail of blood down the sidewalk.
Though the black 1996 Honda Accord was severely damaged and some of the passengers weren't wearing seat belts, none of the teens had life-threatening injuries, Lodi police said.
The scene temporarily perplexed bystanders and officers, who arrived to find a car crash on a wide road with no skid marks.
Two victims were taken by ambulance to Lodi Memorial Hospital from the scene. Officers then began pulling backpacks from the car and leafing through pages of tidy school notes in an attempt to find names of possible victims.
By the time police arrived at the hospital to interview the driver, bogus rumors were spreading through the school that the driver was paralyzed or had died.
What exactly triggered the 10:30 a.m. crash on a sunny day with little traffic remains under investigation. Police said there was no smell of alcohol on the victims.
There were no skid marks, but the driver apparently veered to the right and struck the parked trailer hard enough to move its locked wheels and damage the axle.
Another driver, Mark Presler, was heading north and getting ready to turn into an office driveway when he saw the Honda veer ahead of him. Presler continued north and stopped to see if he could help.
He found a young man on the ground at the edge of the road, and Presler retrieved a sweatshirt from his minivan to place under the victim's head. He said he saw the driver convulsing and didn't touch him, not knowing if he might do more harm than good.
Another witness reached in and turned off the blaring stereo.
Firefighters and police officers soon arrived, learning from witnesses that a young woman and maybe a male had fled the car. Blood drops from both sides of the car supported those statements.
One officer followed a trail of blood north on the sidewalk to Pine Street, where the trail headed east toward Lodi Memorial Cemetery.
Police, as well as a passerby, searched for the young woman who had been seen fleeing, but didn't find her. She ultimately made it home, where her parents took her to the hospital for treatment of a gash to the head, Motor Officer Hans Van Noord said.
Some teens apparently called friends to take them back to school, where a school resource officer ultimately rounded them up and took them to the hospital.
Police did not release the students' names, as all were minors. Most are in their junior year and about the age of 16, Van Noord said.
The car belonged to the driver's parents, who were not exactly happy, Van Noord said. The driver was not licensed.
All told, four boys and two girls were riding in the car that had five seat belts, Van Noord said. The driver and front male passenger were wearing seat belts, as was another boy, but the other three passengers were not, Van Noord said.
Where the students had planned to go was unclear, and none of them had specific answers for police. But they hadn't gotten far: Van Noord said they apparently headed east down Lodi Avenue, turned north on Guild Avenue, and there the day of freedom came to an end.
Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.
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election year wrote on Nov 28, 2008 5:41 AM:
election year wrote on Nov 28, 2008 5:36 AM:
OTH wrote on Nov 26, 2008 8:53 PM:
LNS does not like criticism of their staffers. "
blabber wrote on Nov 26, 2008 5:05 PM:
fawn lebowitz wrote on Nov 26, 2008 8:12 AM:
lodisafeway wrote on Nov 24, 2008 9:50 PM:
Just because someone has a by-line doesn't remove them from focus on this forum. However, the most vicious attacks are reserved for other anonymous bloggers - and usually from people with little regard for decency and/or self-respect. "
LodiEye wrote on Nov 24, 2008 2:40 PM:
Just be glad that nobody was killed. there may be few Xmas presents for the driver. Chances are he won't get a DL until his 18th birthday. Hopefully they all get some community service hours.
By the way, all who pick on Ms. Bohm's writing should give reporting a try. if you thinnk it's easy to show up at an event and get statements from witnesses, cops and meds., then write it into a cohesive report need to give it a try. "
weezer wrote on Nov 24, 2008 9:39 AM:
My son knows better than to take my car keys without permission. "
Lodian wrote on Nov 23, 2008 4:08 PM:
real facts wrote on Nov 23, 2008 10:20 AM:
I hope these kids have learned valuable lessons"). "
jeff wrote on Nov 23, 2008 7:08 AM:
Lodian wrote on Nov 23, 2008 1:12 AM:
dogs4you wrote on Nov 22, 2008 5:56 PM:
fawn lebowitz wrote on Nov 22, 2008 4:36 PM:
Good quote. "
jeff wrote on Nov 22, 2008 12:41 PM:
Mad Dog wrote on Nov 22, 2008 12:07 PM:
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Nov 22, 2008 12:06 PM:
OTH- oh, I know exactly what you are talking about. I have been in that same scenario you described, not to mention the gridlock of Elm & Ham after school. "
boonablis wrote on Nov 22, 2008 11:54 AM:
OTH wrote on Nov 22, 2008 11:25 AM:
The truck driver is the least of their problem. You have 4 or 5 teenagers injured and I doubt their parents will pay their doctor bills. "
OTH wrote on Nov 22, 2008 11:23 AM:
Have you ever been in the parking lot by Smart, Rite-Aid and Avenue Grill around 10:30 or 11 a.m.? The kids race for the pizza parlor. Nascar has nothing on these kids, you get in their ways and it could be fatal. I won't go down there at that time. Once was enough. "
edumacation wrote on Nov 22, 2008 11:05 AM:
Mad Dog wrote on Nov 22, 2008 10:42 AM:
dogs4you wrote on Nov 22, 2008 10:29 AM:
Concerning the keys to the car, maybe the teen had another set made, they knew they were in trouble and I can`t understand why the ones that could ran away, its not like they weren`t going to get caught. I see a huge law suit on the horizon when this mess is straigthen out, without a doubt the truck driver will want his rig repaired. "
wtf wrote on Nov 22, 2008 9:48 AM:
Hopefully, there will be a full toxicology screening of these kids for any type of drug and/or hallucinogenic that might account for this behavior. Unless the driver is epileptic. How did this kid get the keys to his parents' car?
LNS please be sure to follow up on this. "
jeff wrote on Nov 22, 2008 9:12 AM:
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Nov 22, 2008 8:17 AM:
The headline and story are misleading. The word "ditch" indicates the students were never at school while statements in the article do.
"Some teens apparently called friends to take them back to school."??? So they were at school.
As I posted last night, 10:30am is the early lunch period. So, were these wannabe nascar racers at school for periods 1-3? "
OTH wrote on Nov 22, 2008 8:03 AM:
The other question is why did the passengers rabbit if there was nothing to hide? This is interesting as none of them had any specific answers for police as to where they were going. I guess maybe joyriding. "
Comments on this story are now closed.