2 in Logan Co. wreck show improvement - Pantagraph

"LINCOLN — Two Lincoln High School graduates injured in a truck crash Friday continue to improve at Springfield Memorial Hospital, according to a nursing supervisor.

Clark Schooneover, who suffered a broken collarbone and leg, was listed in fair condition Sunday night. Zach Rickord was upgraded from critical condition to serious, the supervisor said.

The crash took the lives of four other students, whose names have not been released by the Logan County coroner’s office because records must be checked to confirm positive indentifications.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but The Pantagraph on Sunday received death notices for Christopher McGlasson of Middletown and Ross B. Conrady of Elkhart, two of the victims.

Further details concerning the accident also have not been released by police officials.

Six teenagers were traveling in an extended cab pick-up truck westbound on 1300th Street in a rural area east of Middleton. As the truck went over Polecat Hill, the driver apparently lost control, striking trees where the road turns south to become 250th Avenue, officials said. The accident was discovered about 11:29 p.m

Mike Boyer and his wife came upon the scene as they were returning from basketball game at Lincoln High to their home on a farm near Middleton. The truck had slid sideways across 40 feet of grass and striking two trees on the driver’s side, Boyer said.

“My wife said she spotted little flames coming from beneath the truck. My wife called 911, and that’s when I noticed one of the boys yelling for help,” he told The Pantagraph Saturday.

Boyer then went to the truck and pulled one boy, Clark Schoonover, out from the driver’s side window and laid him on the ground, he said. At that point, another driver came by the scene, and Boyer asked him to go get a fire extinguisher.

“There was an unbelievable amount of smoke inside the cab and I began to see flames lapping up from the floorboard,” he said. Boyer said that he couldn’t wait any longer (for fire suppression help) so he pulled Zach Rickord from the side window on the passenger side.

The entire truck was then quickly engulfed in flames, he said.

“I thought maybe there was another one or two still in the truck, but I never would have thought their were six people riding in the truck,” he said.

“Maybe—I don’t know if those kids were alive in that truck—but if I had had a fire extinguisher, then we’d know.”"

http://pantagraph.com/articles/2008/02/18/news/doc47b91cec9cfcc975918041.txt