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One Wesley Chapel High Senior Killed, Two Injured In Wreck

CHRIS URSO / Tribune

An air ambulance takes off from the scene of a single-vehicle crash along Curley Road just south of Jacana Drive on Aug. 29, 2007, in Wesley Chapel.

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 29, 2007

Updated: 08/29/2007 05:52 pm

WESLEY CHAPEL - Two weeks into the new school year, a single-car crash on Curley Road killed one Wesley Chapel High Senior and injured two others Wednesday afternoon.

Police identified the dead student as Matthew Laidley, 17, of Wrencrest Drive in Wesley Chapel. He was a passenger in the 1999 Isuzu Trooper driven by Adam Sanford, 17, of Weaver Drive in Land O' Lakes.

Sanford and a second passenger, Katelin Kaiser, 17, of Beckingham Way in Wesley Chapel, were in serious condition at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, said Larry Coggins, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol.

Laidley was alive when the three were airlifted to St. Joseph's. He was listed in critical condition upon arrival, Coggins said.

All three were wearing seat belts at the time of the wreck, Coggins said.

Sanford was driving the 1999 red Isuzu Trooper. Laidley was in the front passenger seat, and Kaiser was in the back seat, Coggins said.

Charges are pending against Sanford. Because of Laidley's death, the wreck is being investigated as a homicide, Coggins said.

At Wesley Chapel High School, Principal Andy Frelick said the district's crisis teams will be on campus Thursday to counsel students and teachers upset by the wreck.

Today's fatal crash was the latest in a chain of tragedies to befall the student body of Wesley Chapel High. Last year, two students were found shot to death on a dirt road north of Dade City. A former student died in a fiery car crash in New York about the same time.

"We've gone through a lot of tragedy in the last two or three years," Frelick said.

The wreck closed Curley Road between Wells Road and State Road 54 for 2 1/2 hours while the Florida Highway Patrol investigated the crash.

Coggins said the wreck occurred when the Isuzu went out of control while traveling at high speed southbound on Curley.

Witnesses said the Isuzu had passed several cars on the right shoulder of the road and was trying to pass one more using a turn lane at the time of the accident, Coggins said.

The vehicle rolled repeatedly before coming to rest upright perpendicular to the road on the northbound side of the two-lane highway.

Eric Newland of Hudson was driving his company's work truck in the northbound lane at the time of the crash. He said he saw the Isuzu move briefly into his lane before moving back toward the shoulder of the southbound lane.

"He took a look and seen me coming and went the other way," Newland said. "He tried to pass the blue car and ran out of asphalt."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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