Investigations are nearly complete into two September crashes involving teenagers that resulted in serious injuries to one teen and the death of another.
A Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman said the investigations will be wrapped up when toxicology tests are returned sometime in the next couple of weeks.
“We’re getting close,” said Kim Kapp.
Excessive speed and alcohol remain the likely causes of a Sept. 12 crash that abruptly ended what police described as a double date. The rollover accident occurred at about 3:40 a.m. near a gentle turn on a flat road in the 17400 block of Southeast 25th Street.
Three of the teens were released from the hospital, while the most seriously injured, Jon Allaire, 17, has been moved from Southwest Washington Medical Center to Portland’s Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he’s undergoing physical therapy. The Columbian found an update on the boy’s condition on the online journal CaringBridge.org.
“Jon has been working hard with his therapies even though they’re pretty painful,” his mother wrote Tuesday. “Working on his cognitive challenges has been rough, but the people at Emanuel are good with him.”
Vancouver police identified one of the teens as Klaus Stump, 18, but would not give the names of the others.
In addition to Allaire, Kapp said one of the teens has been “in and out of the hospital.”
“We do believe alcohol was a factor,” she said.
If the circumstances of that crash are mostly clear-cut, the Sept. 28 crash that resulted in the death of Robert A. Gonzalez II, 15, is more of a mystery.
For starters, not a single occupant of the car was licensed to drive. Three 15-year-olds were in the car that rolled over at 4:15 p.m. on Southeast French Road, along the north side of state Highway 14 west of Ellsworth Road in Vancouver, and came to a rest on its top in the middle of the road.
“They had no formal training and weren’t legally authorized to drive,” Kapp said.
Police have not identified the other teens involved in the crash, including the driver, or the owner. Kapp said the owner of the truck was related to Gonzalez.
“There are no indications the driver was under any influence of alcohol or drugs,” Kapp said. “Excessive speed was obviously a factor; it appears the deceased juvenile was not wearing a seat belt; there is no indication the vehicle owner knew his vehicle was being taken without his permission.”
The investigations have been slowed, Kapp said, by a backup at the toxicology lab.
