Car crash injures 2 Poland football players

Staff report

POLAND

Two Poland Seminary High School football players were taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown after a Saturday afternoon car crash, but the Ohio State Highway Patrol said their injuries were not life-threatening.

The players, both juniors living in Poland, are Michael Audi, a 16-year-old running back and linebacker, and Abraham Kassem, a 17-year-old offensive tackle and defensive end.

A hospital supervisor declined to provide any information about the condition of either boy, saying the hospital does not release any information about pediatric trauma patients.

The crash occurred at 12:34 p.m. at U.S. Route 224 and Luteran Lane in Poland Township.

Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to pry open the T-boned driver’s side door to extricate Audi, who was driving the car.

“The door was pushed well into the passenger compartment,” said Chip Comstock, chief of the Western Reserve Joint Fire District, adding that the crush zone extended between 1 and 2 feet into the car.

Both boys wore seat belts, and Comstock said firefighters who were at the scene told him that the boys’ injuries would have been worse had they not worn the belts.

The OSHP report did not list the driver of the other car, John Seaborn, 30, of Pittsburgh, as having been injured in the crash.

The boys were northbound on Luteran Lane, when the car they occupied stopped at the stop sign, the patrol said.

However, Audi then turned left to go west on U.S. Route 224 and drove into the path of Seaborn, the patrol said.

Audi was cited for failure to yield the right of way.