1 dies in Rohnert Park crash

A witness to a car crash that killed one Rohnert Park teen and seriously injured another said the vehicle struck a center divider on Camino Colegio with such force the vehicle flew into the air, turning end over end and snapping off the top of a tree.

“I’ve never seen a car fly like that in my life,” said David Sklavos, who was driving on the other side of Camino Colegio when he slammed on his brakes to avoid the oncoming car. “It sheared that tree off there at about eight feet in the air, and that’s how high that car was when it was flipping.”

Three teens, all El Camino Continuation High School students, were in the Honda Accord at the time of the 8:16 a.m. crash on Camino Colegio at Maple Drive, classmates said.

The 17-year-old driver was treated for injuries at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and later released, the Rohnert Park Public Safety Department said.

His front passenger, identified by classmates as Chris Reynolds, was hospitalized in Memorial’s Intensive Care Unit, police said.

The rear passenger, Kevin Carr-Grillo, 16, died at the scene of the crash, the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office said.

Rohnert Park police had announced Thursday morning that both passengers died. They corrected that about five hours later, attributing the error to a miscommunication between ambulance personnel and dispatchers.

Sklavos said the driver of the northbound Accord, whose name has not been confirmed, appeared not to have braked as he careened around the curve on Camino Colegio and struck the end of the center divider.

A reflective sign alerting drivers to the median was sent flying as the before became airborne, where it rolling end-over-end at least twice, he said.

Sklavos said he could see the right front passenger as his head bounced off the dashboard mid-air.

When the vehicle landed, battered and misshapen, its young driver stumbled out, asked Sklavos to check on two buddies still in the car and collapsed in the street, Sklavos said.

He said he could not feel a pulse in either of the passengers and quickly returned to the driver, talking to him and trying to keep him from slipping into unconsciousness.

A woman who lives in the Windsong Apartments across Camino Colegio from the accident scene also rushed to the car but said she hardly knew what to do except try to rouse those inside, all all of whom were slumped forward in their seats.

“The two in the front seat looked halfway OK,” said the woman, Christine Hester.

But then she looked in the back and saw a young man covered in blood, though it appeared he was still breathing.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hester said, clearly very shaken.

The mangled white Accord landed on its low-profile tires perpendicular to the southbound lanes of the boulevard-style avenue.

The front bumper was thrown across the two southbound lanes onto the grass beyond. Additional wreckage was strewn across about a 40-foot area.

Both front airbags had deployed.

Firefighters had to cut at least one person from the wreckage, while others used absorbent material to stop the flow of leaked gasoline, which sent up heavy fumes for several hours after the crash.