RP teen in fatal crash got license last month

<p>The teenage driver in the Rohnert Park crash Thursday that killed one classmate and seriously injured another had a provisional license that prohibits juvenile passengers unless a licensed adult is present, police said.</p><p>Authorities have refused to identify the driver, except to say he is a 17-year-old who is under investigation for possible criminal violations connected to the fatal accident.</p><p>However, several classmates at El Camino Continuation School in Rohnert Park identified the driver as Tyler Canales, a junior.</p><p>Canales, grandson of former Rohnert Park Mayor and council member Jack Buchanan, escaped major injury and was treated at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and released, police said. Family members declined comment Friday.</p><p>Kevin Carr-Grillo, 16, the backseat passenger, died at the crash scene. The front-seat passenger, Chris Reynolds, 17, was reported in critical condition at Memorial Hospital.</p><p>The Rohnert Park Public Safety Department said the Honda Accord, registered to Canales' mother, Barbie Buchanan, appeared to be traveling at a high rate of speed.</p><p>Police Detective Joe Ferronato said Friday the driver received his driver's license Feb. 5, about six weeks ago. It prohibits him from carrying juvenile passengers without a licensed adult.</p><p>On Friday, Carr-Grillo was remembered as a beloved, unique personality who entertained his friends and rode a skateboard like no one else in town.</p><p>Remembrances posted at school and at the crash site memorialized his broad smile and the wide net of friends he left behind despite his mere 16 years.</p><p>"Kevin was well-known," said friend Haji Canett, 17. "Kevin was a rock star."</p><p>Carr-Grillo, Reynolds, 17, and Canales apparently were en route to class at El Camino on Thursday morning when the crash occurred.</p><p>A witness said the northbound vehicle rammed a center median on Camino Colegio at Maple Drive, was launched end-over-end into the air and sheared off a tree at a height of 8 or 10 feet before landing, mangled and misshapen, in the road.</p><p>Classmates said El Camino Principal Beth Smith told those in the student body of about 150 Friday that Reynolds was in an induced coma because of swelling in his brain.</p><p>Smith has not returned phone calls from The Press Democrat seeking confirmation. Hospital personnel also were unavailable to update his condition.</p><p>Friends who gathered a few blocks from school at a strip mall Friday said they didn't blame Canales for the accident and wished him well.</p><p>They said Carr-Grillo's death is devastating to students at El Camino and nearby Rancho Cotate High.</p><p>They remembered how he always had a skateboard and was so good with it that they were convinced he would succeed in his efforts to become a professional skater.</p><p>"He was awesome," said a friend who called himself Ninja.</p><p>Several of those interviewed had attended Community Day School with him and Canales before moving on to El Camino. Reynolds, they said, transferred from Rancho Cotate recently.</p><p>Many came to the crash site Thursday night for a candlelight vigil involving 40 or 50 people, as well as for more private moments remembering their friend, said John "J.J." Newman.</p><p>"He was a good kid, and he made us laugh," said classmate Tresa Smith, who had a manila folder containing a picture of Carr-Grillo during happier times.</p><p>"We all miss Kevin, and we're looking out for Chris," she said. "We really want him to make it."</p><p>Candles, flowers, photos, poems, liquor bottles and other items were left in the median where the severed tree, now cut to the ground, once stood.</p><p>Neighbors and police said they hope the crash reminds others to slow down on Camino Colegio, a divided four-lane road that attracts young people driving fast.</p><p>"It's a wide-open stretch of roadway," Ferronato said.</p><p>Vince Giuntini, who lives in the neighborhood, said he walks his dog along with many others daily along Camino Colegio and often sees cars whizzing by, sometimes doing donuts.</p><p>Circular skidmarks at some intersections were visible Friday, and Giuntini said it's not unusual to see the grassy hillside torn up from tires in front of the Windsong apartment complex across from the crash site.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat</p><p>.com.</p>