Teens die in car crash in central Ohio

February 21, 2011 at 4:23p.m.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Columbus police are investigating the deaths of a teenage couple whose vehicle slid off a road and struck a tree.

Police say the crash early Sunday morning near Bolton Field airport southwest of downtown killed the driver, Micah Hawkins, and passenger Brooke Thompson. Both were 18.

Police say the cause of the crash isn’t clear. Friends told The Columbus Dispatch they believe Hawkins had been drinking, and they’re considering the tragedy as a reminder not to drink and drive.

The crash came days two days after another wreck that left three teenagers dead. That crash happened in Ross County when the vehicle the three were riding in left the road and hit a tree on their way home from school.