Saturday, August 21, 1999

Two Ross teens killed in fiery wreck

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Car hits tree after 'launching' off rural road

BY MICHAEL CLARK and JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A. Brinkman was killed.

K. Herald survived.

        ROSS TOWNSHIP — Two Ross High School football players were killed Friday after their speeding car went airborne, crashed into a tree and caught fire.

        The crash occurred on a hilly, rural road that's popular among teens for a dangerous game known as “launching” cars.

        The crash killed Adam Brinkman, 17, and a junior whose name was withheld because officials had difficulty locating his father, a truck driver. A third boy, Kyle Herald, 17, managed to free himself from the wreckage and run for help.

The car was destroyed in the accident. (Dick Swain photo) | ZOOM |

        The three had just left a Friday morning practice and were driving east around 11 a.m. along Kirchling Road.

        Butler County Sheriff Harold Don Gabbard said the car was traveling “at a high rate of speed” when it went airborne.

        After the car landed, it went out of control off the right side of the road and traveled about 100 feet before striking a mailbox. The car went back onto the road and off the left side into a ditch. It traveled 75 feet before hitting the tree, Sheriff Gabbard said.

        Police and firefighters scrambled to the scene but were unable to free the two from the smashed, burning vehicle. Both died at the scene.

        Dave Jacobs, who lives about a half-mile from the crash site, didn't see Friday's crash but said he has witnessed about a dozen other accidents along the hilly stretch of Kirchling Road in the past three years.

        Teens have long made a game of launching their cars airborne over the hills, he said. The asphalt at the base of the hills is scarred and scraped where cars' undercarriages hit, he said.

        “Sometimes they go about 100 feet in the air. It's foolish,” Mr. Jacobs said.

        He said the speed limit, 45 mph, is “too high for a road full of hills and curves.”

        Kyle, interviewed Friday afternoon at home, said he remembered the car going airborne after speeding over the top of a hill. Adam was driving the 1989 Plymouth Sundance, and the third youth was in the back seat.

        “I remember going over the hill. The tires caught in the rut next to the road,” Kyle said, hours after he was treated for minor injuries at Fort Hamilton Hospital.

        “We hit a mailbox and it shattered the windshield. We couldn't see anything. I closed my eyes. I remember hearing the car drive into the grass. Then I remember waking up,” he said. “Adam was moaning. His head was cut. I climbed out of the window and went for help. When I got back, I saw the car. It was crackling and then it caught fire.”

        “This is about as bad as it gets,” said Sheriff's Maj. Anthony Dwyer. “When they arrived, there was an active blaze there. It was just a traumatic situation for anybody that was on the scene. There's always those incidents that go over the edge that you're not really prepared for.”

        Kyle's father, Ken Herald, was amazed his son, sitting in the front passenger seat, was able to survive with only minor injuries.

        “It's hard to believe,” he said.

        Adam was in the technical prep engineering design program at D. Russel Lee Career Center and was described by staff members as a physically strong, above-average student who had been on the football team two years and was going to start on the Rams' defensive line this year.

        A member of the family, who requested anonymity, said, “We can't believe he's gone. He was a very sweet boy. Very calm. Everybody liked him.”

        The unidentified student had recently transferred to the high school, said David McWilliams, superintendent of Ross Local Schools. Both boys were well-liked, he said.

        Mr. McWilliams and football coach Dick Ballard held a private meeting with the boys' 40 teammates for about an hour at school Friday. Several of the youths emerged wiping their eyes; some leaned on each other as they walked out.

        “They're struggling,” Mr. McWilliams said. “They need a little bit of time to grapple with what it all means ... they need time to grieve.”

        Friday night'sscrimmage with Mariemont at Ross was canceled, but Mr. McWilliams said he expected the first game of the season — against Lemon-Monroe — will be held as planned next Friday.

        Such a tragedy teaches young people the difficult lesson that life is fragile, Mr. McWilliams said, adding, “It's tough to realize how quickly a life can be snuffed out.”

        Members of the team reacted with “plenty of tears,” but also showed courage in facing the loss, Mr. McWilliams said.

        When the school's 800 or so students begin theschool year Tuesday, counselors and ministers will be on hand, Mr. McWilliams said. “In a school this size, this type of loss is felt by everyone,” he said.

        David Eck and Sue Kiesewetter contributed to this story.

       

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