3 teens killed in early Sunday crash near Elyria

Associated Press

ELYRIA

Three Northeast Ohio teens were killed and two more left hospitalized after the car they were in went airborne as it sped over railroad tracks early Sunday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol says.

The driver, among those killed, was a senior whose Brunswick High School graduation ceremony was scheduled Sunday afternoon. All five in the car were from Brunswick.

Ohio troopers at the Elyria post said the 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier was traveling at a high speed just after midnight Sunday when the driver lost control in Columbia Township. Their report says the driver went off the right side of the road, then swerved across the left side of the road, hit a ditch and tree, then flipped over onto the road.

The patrol said 18-year-old driver Jeffrey Chaya and passengers 17-year-old Blake Bartchak and 16-year-old Lexi Poerner were killed. Kevin Fox, 17, was flown to Cleveland Metro Health Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition. Troopers said Fox was thrown from the car into a ditch on the right side of Boone Road.

Southwest General Hospital wouldn’t release information on a 17-year-old passenger identified by troopers as Julia Romito.

More than 600 students were scheduled to graduate Sunday.