Saturday, May 20, 2000
Again: A fatal crash and a stricken school
'This tears your heart out'
By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Grieving classmates mourn Brian Cook at the site of the crash. Flowers and a cross with his name mark the spot.
(Dick Swaim photo)
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MADISON TOWNSHIP — Grief over a dead classmate enveloped another Butler County high school Friday as students mourned a young basketball player's death in a car crash and worried about the health of three badly injured teammates.
Tearful Madison High School students gathered to pray around the school's flagpole for classmate Brian Cook, who died Thursday in a fiery wreck
eerily similar to other crashes over nine months that have claimed the lives of eight Butler and Warren County high schoolers.
The 16-year-old sophomore died Thursday afternoon, and the crash also seriously injured his twin brother and two other classmates, all basketball teammates.
“This tears your heart out,” said Bill Brelsford, principal of the 430-student high school.
Brian Cook
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School psychologist Debbie Morrison said the mood among students Friday was “very somber.”
“We had some kids cry,” she said. “Some are very angry, which is normal. This is a tight-knit community that has really pulled together.”
The crash at 5766 Trenton Franklin Road, north of Ohio 122 just west of Middletown, killed Brian, of the 6900 block of Dalewood Drive in Madison Township. He was a passenger in the car.
His brother Brad, also a passenger, was taken by AirCare helicopter to University Hospital, where his condition was upgraded Friday to good.
Driving the 1994 Mercury Cougar was 17-year-old Madison High School junior Daniel Goodlett, of the 4600 block of Elk Creek in Middletown. He was taken by AirFlight helicopter to Dayton's Miami Valley Hospital, where he is listed in fair condition.
Also taken to Miami Valley was 16-year-old classmate David Harlan, of the 7100 block of Trenton Franklin Road. He was listed in serious condition Friday.
All four boys were members of Madison's junior varsity and varsity basketball teams and were traveling to the high school to play basketball at an open gym at the school off Ohio 122 in rural Madison Township.
Butler County Sheriff deputies said the Madison High School boys were traveling south on Trenton Franklin Road at approximately 2:50 p.m. and passed another car that was carrying three other teammates from the school.
Reports indicate that Daniel's car lost control, went off the road and hit a small, low concrete bridge over a road-shoulder ditch at the end of a resident's driveway.
“There is preliminary evidence that there was a car passed,” said Brad Kraemer, spokesman for the Butler County Sheriff's office.
Mr. Kraemer added, however, that the car passed “was not a factor in the crash.”
He said there is no evidence of alcohol being involved. Deputies are still investigating the crash.
The accident was the latest in deadly year for area teens. Since August, eight high school students have lost their lives on rural roads in Butler County and Warren County.
In August, two varsity Ross High School football players — Adam Brinkman and Scott King — were killed in a fiery crash on Kirchling Road in Butler County after their car went airborne and hit a tree. Just three weeks later, Ross varsity cheerleader Melissa “Missy” Boling was killed along U.S. 27 just north of the Hamilton County line.
In November, Nikki Muncy, a 17-year-old Lemon-Monroe High School cheerleader, was killed when her car skidded into the path of semi-tractor trailers on Augspurger Road in rural Butler County. Also killed in the same accident was John P. Smith, a junior at D. Russel Lee Career/
Technology Center in Butler County.
The same month, Mason High School students Jordan Walker, 16, and Troy Mullikin, 15, were killed when they lost control of their car and struck a utility pole on McClure Road in Warren County's Turtlecreek Township, near the Butler County line. Another student passenger was also injured.
Friday, Madison High School officials scrambled to comfort grieving students by bringing in counselors, school psychologists and youth ministers.
“Everybody is really sad and in shock,” said Madison senior Angie Markham. “But we are being very supportive of each other and trying to help each other through this.”
Mr. Brelsford, the principal, said he hopes students learn from this painful lesson.
He declined to speak specifically about the crash, but said in general that young people rarely realize the ramifications of bad choices.
“When kids make bad decisions, they don't realize that they affect so many other people around them,” said Mr. Brelsford.
PHOTO: Dick Swaim
Grieving students from Madison High School gather to mourn Brian Cook where the car he was riding in crashed. Flowers and a cross with Brian's name mark the spot of the accident.
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