Father wants officials to admit to mistake

No one is saying if the two youths died in the crash or hours later.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CHICAGO — Gary, Ind., police and city officials remained silent Sunday for a second day about the weekend crash that killed two teens and left two others injured, but the father who found his son’s mangled body at the side of a road seven hours after the wreck lashed out at what he called a failure that no parent should endure.

“It’s a disgrace, how we have to be tormented,” said Arthur Smith, as a stream of friends and relatives stopped by to offer condolences for the death of his son, Brandon Smith. “And you, as a city, can’t stand up and say, ‘We made a mistake.’”

Meanwhile, the mother of Darius Moore, 17, who was driving the car that crashed, told reporters outside Gary’s Methodist Hospital Northlake that her son repeatedly told police that two friends remained unaccounted for after the 2:30 a.m. CDT Saturday crash but that police would not listen.

“He said the officer never went down in the ravine where the car was,” said Carmelita Evans, Moore’s mother. “My son insisted, he continuously insisted to the officer that there were four of them in the car.”

But only Moore and DeAndre Anderson, also 17, were taken to the hospital while Brandon Smith and Dominique Green, both 18, remained missing.

“He crawled out of the ditch,” Evans said of her son, who told her the car flipped about 12 times during the crash. “His arm was gashed. And he helped one of the other boys, DeAndre.”

Her son underwent surgery to repair tendons in his right arm, Evans said. The hospital would not release the condition of either patient Sunday evening, citing their ages. Evans had hoped to take her son home, but it was unclear by Sunday evening whether he had been released.

She described Brandon Smith as her son’s best friend, adding that Moore had to be sedated after learning about the two deaths.

What grieving father said

Arthur Smith said he found their bodies Saturday at about 9:30 a.m. and called police to the crash scene on Chase Street, near where it passes over Interstate Highway 80.

“We haven’t heard anything from anyone,” Smith said Sunday during an interview at the family’s home. “Nothing. We haven’t heard anything from anybody. Not the police. Not the mayor.”

Repeated calls from reporters to Gary Police Cmdr. Sam Roberts, to whom all calls were referred, were not returned Saturday or Sunday. An officer at the police headquarters desk Sunday said no one was available to comment about the crash.

Police Chief Thomas Houston could not be reached for comment, nor could Gary Mayor Rudy Clay. Fire Chief Jeff Ward also could not be reached.

“Be a man, step up,” Arthur Smith urged Gary officials.

Autopsies were conducted Sunday, but the Lake County Coroner’s office would only say that both teens died of multiple blunt force trauma.

The coroner is expected to release more information today, but death investigator P.J. Adams would only say Sunday that Smith was pronounced dead at the scene by a deputy coroner at 10:13 a.m. Saturday, and Green at 10:14 a.m. Saturday. He would not say what time officials think the teens died — whether upon impact or sometime during the several hours before Smith’s father found them.

“Maybe these boys were dead when they hit the wall,” Arthur Smith said. “But we don’t know. You can’t bring them back, but you sure can give me an explanation. I just want somebody to say they dropped the ball: ‘We didn’t follow proper procedure.’”

Smith said he wasn’t looking for his son’s body when he went to the crash site Saturday morning, just some clue to where he might be. The four teens were returning from a CD release party when the crash happened. Anderson’s mother called Smith on Saturday morning about 8 a.m. to tell him about the crash.