One teenager was killed and four others were injured early Wednesday when their car hit a deer on the same road that claimed the lives of two schoolmates last year. Prince William County police said 15-year-old Kendra Kaeleen Tucker, a freshman at Battlefield High School, died at the scene of the crash shortly after midnight. The other four, also Battlefield students, were flown to an area hospital.
As of late Wednesday, one of the passengers, a 15-year-old Haymarket girl, was clinging to life.
A preliminary investigation revealed that shortly after midnight, a 2005 Dodge Magnum was speeding on Logmill Road just west of James Madison Highway in Haymarket when a deer jumped in the car’s path, police said.
The driver, an 18-year-old boy from Gainesville, lost control and the Dodge slammed into a tree.
The county was under a 10 p.m. curfew for people under 18. None of the teenagers were wearing a seat belt, police said.
The survivors were flown by helicopters to Inova Fairfax Hospital. In addition to the 15-year-old in grave condition, a 14-year-old Gainesville girl remained in critical condition. The driver remained in stable condition and a 17-year-old boy, also from Gainesville, was treated and released.
Battlefield is closed for spring break this week, but officials planned to have grief counselors at the school from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday.
Locals reportedly call the dangerous stretch of Logmill Road “Thrill Hill,” because speeders can go airborne after reaching the pinnacle. The speed limit there is 45 mph.
At least six other young people have died on Logmill Road in the past 11 years, including last August when Battlefield High students 18-year-old Stephen Dixon and 15-year-old Derek Mefferet were killed in when their car struck another car. The students were coming back from a Rascal Flatts concert when their car spun out of control, authorities said.
In November, Prince William County officials honored a Battlefield student who risked his life to pull a man from an overturned and burning sport utility vehicle.
