THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070609
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Faster and faster the sports car roared east on Cornland Road, a razor-straight strip of asphalt flanked by chest-deep ditches.
The four men in the car called out the speed as the Isuzu Impulse blurred under the pale yellow glow of sparse street lights in one of the city's most rural areas.
``80!'' they screamed as the car streaked faster. The 18-year-old driver mashed the accelerator to the floor.
The speedometer needle climbed higher.
``90!'' the men yelled in unison as they hurtled down the dark road shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday.
Empty beer cans clanked on the floor.
``95!''
Trees and mailboxes flashed by, illuminated only a moment in headlights as the car more than doubled the 45-mph speed limit.
``100!''
Ahead of the speeding car, just past its white high beams probing the asphalt, was a curve bending perhaps 45 degrees.
``101!''
Jeffrey Pierce, Robert Williford, Scott Whitfield and Michael Crowdler called out each mile-per-hour increment as the twitching speedometer needle inched still higher.
``102!''
``103!''
``104!''
``105!''
Suddenly, the roadway lurched right, but the car didn't follow.
It was airborne.
Only one of the four men survived what happened next.
The Isuzu flipped through the air and slammed against two thick trees. Two passengers were thrown from the car. They landed more than 20 feet away in the front yard of a home.
The driver's door blew off; the driver, Pierce, dangled by his seat belt outside the wreckage.
In the back seat, Crowdler was virtually unscathed. He freed himself and ran to a nearby house to call for help.
``It was one of the worst accidents I have ever seen,'' police spokesman Tony Torres said. ``There were victims everywhere. It was horrible.''
Crowdler gave police the above account, Torres said. Crowdler was treated at a hospital and released.
The crash in the 3700 block of Cornland Road was the second fatal accident in two days in Chesapeake.
On Wednesday, two people were killed on George Washington Highway only about a mile from the site of Thursday's crash.
In that crash, a tow-truck driver, and a woman who called him for help with a disabled car, died when the truck driver lost control and veered into a ditch.
His sister was dating one of the men who died in Thursday's crash, Crowdler told police.
Torres said alcohol was a factor in Thursday's accident. Neither of the ejected passengers was wearing seat belts.
Torres identified the victims as:
Pierce, the 18-year-old driver, of the 300 block of N. George Washington Highway.
Crowdler, 18, the lone survivor, also from the 300 block of N. George Washington Highway.
Williford, 26, who lived in the Deep Creek section. An address was not available.
Whitfield, 19, of the 25000 block of Bows and Arrows Road in Zuni. Whitfield was an electrician apprentice and a 1993 graduate of Deep Creek High School.
Because the driver was killed, Torres said no charges will be filed. He said police won't know whether the driver was drunk until blood tests are completed.
The crash is still under investigation. ILLUSTRATION: Map
STAFF
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITIES by CNB