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Crash Hospitalizes 3 Teens

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By LISA A. DAVIS and GEOFF FOX, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2007

Updated: 09/07/2007 09:55 pm

WESLEY CHAPEL - Days after the funeral of a classmate killed in a high-speed after-school crash, students at Wesley Chapel High School were coping with news of another serious wreck involving peers Friday afternoon.

Wesley Chapel senior Edward Wilcox, 17, the driver of a Ford F-150 pickup, and his passengers, Aaron White and Christopher Eke, both 18, were taken to hospitals after the truck flipped several times near McKendree and Overpass roads, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

'Another clear-cut case of a driver being careless,' Trooper Larry Coggins said.

Eke, who was in the back seat of the truck, was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where he was in serious but stable condition Friday afternoon; Wilcox and White were taken by ambulance to University Community Hospital in Tampa with non-life-threatening injuries, Coggins said.

Only Wilcox, cited for careless driving, was wearing a seat belt. Coggins said White was ejected during the crash, which occurred at 12:43 p.m.

News of the wreck reached Wesley Chapel High students as they were headed to their cars after school, Principal Andy Frelick said. He described students' reaction as 'frantic.'

'They were upset that people would take chances again,' he said. 'We just had the funeral for Matt Laidley on Wednesday. These kids need to put their thinking caps on.'

Laidley, a senior, died at St. Joseph's last week after a rollover wreck on Curley Road that injured two other teens.

In that crash, investigators say Adam Sanford, 17, of Land O' Lakes, lost control of a 1999 Isuzu Trooper while speeding. Sanford and a passenger, Katelin Kaiser, 17, of Wesley Chapel, were in serious condition after the crash, which is still being investigated.

On Friday, Wilcox, who is taking part in the school's job-training program, was driving north on McKendree, a dirt road, when he lost control and ran onto the east shoulder and overturned, Coggins said. The vehicle came to a rest on its wheels. Wilcox was driving to a girl's house to return a purse, Coggins said.
Frelick said Eke is taking online courses through the school.

He described White, a passenger, as a former student who moved to Michigan before returning to the area.

'We're trying to find a way to get White to graduate,' he said. 'Sometimes they go to adult education to get caught up.'
Frelick said there are signs on the school's walls reminding students to wear their seat belts.

The signs' message: 'Someone will miss you.'
Frelick said school officials do seat belt counts as students leave the parking lot each afternoon. He said there also are plans to offer an advanced driver's course taught by the school's resource officer and another representative from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Details on the class should be available next week.

'You talk to some people who say the frontal lobe of a teenager's brain just hasn't developed the logic as far as risks,' Frelick said, 'but we keep trying to pound in the message.'

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com. Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217 or gfox@

tampatrib.com.

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