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Teen Faces Nine Charges in Fatal Wreck

By Eddie Farah

Friday night's exhibition football game was a sad one for some parents of students at Ed White High School in Jacksonville. Four teenagers, who were part of a group who cut school on the last day, and died in a wreck, were remembers by the entire school in attendance. The parents of the four students were told to attend.

Our hearts go out to the parents of the children, who clearly had a tough time attending the game, but were grateful their children are remembered.

As for the driver, 15-year-old Brandon Hodges, that day in June is one he will never forget.

Hodges is facing four counts of driving without a license in the deaths of a four of his friends who were killed when his SUV blew a tire and wrecked. Hodges is also facing four counts of driving without a license causing serious bodily injury, and careless driving. That is a total of nine counts, eight of which are felonies.

On the last day of school in June, Hodges piled into a 1997 Ford Explorer SUV along with eight other students for a day at the beach. The group was on I-295 when a tire blew, flipping the Ford and throwing out all eight teens. Hodges was the only one wearing a seat belt. After the teens flew out of the vehicle, four of them died.

Police say that Hodges was going about 70 mph when the car rolled and he did not have a license to drive. Killed in the crash were 15-year-old John Kiely, 15-year-old Kimber Krebs, and 17-year-old Dennis Stout. Erin Hurst, 15, died two weeks later at the hospital.

The mother of John Kiely says she will ask for mercy for Hodges, while the mother of Dennis Stout told WJXT-TV that she will feel relieved because Brandon should not have been behind the wheel.

In an exclusive interview with the Florida Times Union after he was charged, Brandon Hodges says he felt the left rear tire separate causing the car to pull strongly to the right then roll after it drifted into the grass off the right emergency lane. The Ford Explorer has a history of rolling, especially the older models with no stability control. His attorney says he has no responsibility for the tire blowing out.

If the vehicle had an old tire or one of the faults Bridgestone/Firestones that came with the vehicle, or if the family bought a replacement tire that was not as advertised, there may be some legal weight to Brandon's defense.

About the only thing he was doing right that day was wearing his seat belt. Hodges said in the interview that he put it on while he was driving because he had a feeling he needed to. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on August 28, 2009 (boomark / email).