DOWNTOWN WARREN 2 die, cops save 2 in crash

By ROGER G. SMITH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- Saturday's fatal car wreck downtown is a story of twos.
Two white sneakers at the scene of the Elm Road accident; one mud-stained, the other bloodstained.
Two bouquets of roses leaning on each other, and a blue ribbon says simply "son" set up in front of the building the car hit.
And two city police officers, without whom, authorities say, this story would be about threes or fours.
Heroes acknowledged: While families mourn the deaths of the two young people, police are calling the pair of officers heroes for pulling the others from the demolished car before it exploded into flames.
"We could have had four fatalities instead of two," said Sgt. Joe O'Grady. "This is the kind of stuff that shows who the real heroes are."
Dead are the driver, Kerry Helmheckel, 18, of McMyler Street Northwest, and Jennifer Pitts, 21, of Roberts Avenue Northwest, who was in the back passenger-side seat.
The front-seat passenger, Matthew Dickens, 21, of Waverly Avenue Northeast, was in serious condition Saturday night in Akron City Hospital.
Billy Arnold, 16, who police said is Dickens' brother and lived with him, was in serious condition in Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital. He was sitting behind the driver.
A video O'Grady took after he arrived at the accident site shows Arnold with a deep gash in his head.
On patrol: Officers Chris Clementi and Jeff Miller were riding together, rather than solo, in a patrol car, O'Grady said. One officer probably couldn't have pulled all four people out before the car blew up, O'Grady said.
"There would be four bodies in that car. They're heroes," he said of the officers.
It's also lucky that both officers were even there, said Chief John Mandopoulos. Each recently returned from a layoff that had been brought on by the city's financial woes.
Four other officers were on duty at the time: two other patrol officers, O'Grady and a lieutenant.
Clementi and Miller were patrolling nearby when they saw smoke and drove toward it. The call about the crash came in at 2:57 a.m.
Crash details: Crash investigator Eric Merkel gave this account:
The four were traveling south into the city when their red 1991 Chevrolet Cavalier went around the bend at High Street Northwest and jumped the curb, narrowly missing a utility pole.
Police estimate the speed at 40 mph. The limit there is 25 mph.
The car skidded through the parking lot of Society Cleaners, leaving 70 to 80 feet of marks and clipping the business' sign. The Cavalier spun sideways and hit the building at 153 Elm, an empty business, and the car's front end wedged under the porch.
Arnold told officers the group was talking, and the accident happened the next moment.
First there was smoke.
People helped: The officers, with help from a passer-by, dragged all four people from the car. Investigators never did get the names of those who helped and are asking them to contact police.
The officers thought all four were dead, Mandopoulos said. Dickens was on the ground and officers said they couldn't find his pulse, but he got up, to the surprise of those at the scene.
Then, there was fire.
Video shows flames shooting six feet into the air, engulfing the car and charring the corner of the empty building.
The front of the car and its interior are burned so badly that all that remain are the metal seat frames and charred foam in the back seat.
"They took a hell of a chance," O'Grady said of the officers.
Beer can: Investigators found one beer can in the car. The Trumbull County coroner was testing the driver's blood for alcohol.
Merkel wasn't sure Saturday night, but he doesn't think anybody was wearing a seat belt.
Police were told the driver had just received an insurance settlement and bought the car.