traffic accident in Millington TN. kills seven teenagers

[MORTARDUDE]

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Day of grief
Families, friends try to heal

By Cindy Wolff
Contact
March 2, 2004

They were just being kids speeding over a spot in the road where tires go airborne; one of those thrill spots teens try when testing their wings.

They called Andrew Sneller, 13, and asked him to go riding with them. He couldn't. He was grounded for two D's on his report card.





That academic misfortune kept him alive.

Sneller and his friends at Millington Middle School spent Monday talking to counselors about the loss of seven classmates, killed in a one-car crash early Sunday morning.

Killed were driver Michael Fradella, 15; and passengers Clifford Gordon 'Trey' Hannah III, 13; Crystal Smith, 13; Eric Sansone, 14; Samantha Stawizynski, 13; Lauren Sutherland, 13; and Jessica Wallace, 13.

Shelby County sheriff's deputies said Fradella, who recently earned his learner's permit, took his friends Trey and Eric out driving.

They stopped and picked up the girls from a slumber party at Crystal's home.

Families spent Monday looking through pictures, picking out caskets, trying to figure out how to pay for seven funerals and reminiscing.

"He was so goofy," said Leslie Hannah, 17, of her little brother, Trey. "He was always joking and laughing and borrowing my hair gel."

Shelby County Schools sent counselors to the school to attend classes and help the remaining 643 students deal with the loss.

"We didn't do anything but talk all day about it," Sneller said. "It was boring and sad. Some people were mad and sad that it happened."

Some students wrote poems or notes to the families. Others left school early.

Gloria Wilkinson stood on the front porch of her granddaughter Samantha's home and wondered how she would live without her first grandchild, who would have turned 14 next month.

"You feel that cold wind?" Wilkinson said. "That's blowing through my heart right now. I feel like a skeleton, and it's blowing right through me.

"I've never felt this much pain."

She told Sammy over and over not to ride in a car with young men.

"Michael was Sammy's friend since she was 11 years old. He was her knight in shining armor. He used to ride his bike over to see her. I guess she just felt safe, but I told her that she shouldn't ride with young boys. I'm so surprised she got in that car."

Kevin Wallace said his daughter, Jessica, made straight A's and was a homebody who preferred to take naps in the afternoons, and long baths at night while she read her magazines.

His house was typically full of Jessica's friends doing makeovers, painting fingernails and listening to music.

Across U.S. 51, Eric Sansone's family talked about the chunky little boy who came two years ago from Delaware to live with his dad, stepmom and their children.

"He had a small suitcase with hardly anything," said Kathy Sansone, his stepmother. "I bought all his clothes at a yard sale, and he never complained. He was a happy boy. There wasn't a mean bone in his body."

They ran their hands along the strings of Mardi Gras beads hanging neatly on clothes hangers in his closet. The family had recently made a trip to New Orleans.

"He was the second-best thing I ever had," said his sister, Ashley, whose name was written on Eric's calendar, marking her 11th birthday Friday. "The first is my parents."

David Sansone said Eric sprouted, thinned down and enjoyed football and baseball. He and Eric would challenge the next door neighbor Paul Wilder and his son Eric to football.

"I'd be making all these play calls for my Eric to try to catch the ball," said Paul. "He'd tell Eric, 'just get open' and they'd score every time. We never did beat them."

Joe Fradella didn't want to talk much. He hasn't been in Michael's room since the night his son and friends sneaked out a window and went driving in one of the father's cars.

He showed pictures and said his son was outgoing, loved to be with friends and would help anyone.

"He had a big heart and just loved everyone," Fradella said. "This is a nightmare."

Officers said no alcohol or drugs were found in the car but that toxicology tests had been ordered.

"They won't find anything," Kevin Wallace said.

"These were good kids. It can happen to anyone. Peer pressure is just as dangerous as any drug or any drink."


- Cindy Wolff: