Fox Chapel HS Golf Team Members Hospitalized After 1-Car Crash
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FOX CHAPEL (KDKA) -- Four members of the Fox Chapel High School golf team are recovering following a one-vehicle crash on Wednesday afternoon.
It happened on Field Club Road while the students were on their way to the Pittsburgh Field Club.
"The four of them were heading off to, we believe, Oakmont, but we're not sure," said Fox Chapel Police Chief David Laux. "They were going to a golf course to practice golf today."
Andrew Friend, the grandson of Pittsburgh Pirates legend Bob Friend, was behind the wheel as they headed down Field Club Road…. Police say speed was a factor.
"As they were traveling down, they lost control and started up the embankment, and that's what caused the vehicle to roll over onto its roof," said Chief Laux.
Inverted, it sliced through a utility pole, taking it out along with a transformer…. The power lines landed on the car.
Aiden Oehrle was already climbing out when police arrived, but concerned about the power lines, the other boys were told to stay put. A Duquesne Light crew was working just around the corner.
"The crew chief pulled together seven guys, and said, 'Let's grab a winch truck and a bucket truck,' and they just left what they were doing and came right up," Chief Laux said.
The power was off within minutes, and Greg Meyer and Will Livingston crawled out of the SUV, but Friend remained trapped in the front seat, upside down. His legs were entangled in the dashboard …but he was alert and talking, especially when his dad arrived.
"He told his father, 'Don't be mad at me,' and he told his father that he screwed up and he looked at me and said, 'Really sorry about that chief,'" Chief Laux said.
An emergency physician arrived to sedate Friend.
"He had to be sedated before we could actually remove him from the vehicle, because of the potential for pain during the moving process," said Chief Laux said.
Almost two hours after the accident happened, he was out of the SUV and on his way to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. Chief Laux says he knows all four boys very well.
"Good kids, good kids," he said.
Once police determine how fast the SUV was going, they'll make the decision whether charges should be filed.
The Duquesne Light crews had to put up a new utility pole and restore power to the neighborhood.
