Two killed in crash

WARREN TOWNSHIP - Two people were killed and three others critically injured in a high-speed crash overnight Friday that occurred when the vehicle they were in collided with a utility pole.

The impact sheered the 1997 Ford Mustang into two, scattering the driver and passengers about the area.

Saturday afternoon, state Highway Patrol Lt. Joe Dragovich, the head of the patrol's Southington Post, said the concoction of alcohol, speed, no seat belts and a curve on North Leavitt Road just before Canoe City led to the crash.

''It's a holiday cocktail you don't want to have right there,'' said Dragovich.

Killed in the accident about 2:20 a.m. on North Leavitt Road was 25-year-old Rory J. Drnek of Mansfield and 25-year-old Benjamin Bosley of Leavittsburg. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Badly injured was Michael Lester, 24, of Leavittsburg, and the driver of the car, David A. Eubank of Newton Falls. Also injured was 23-year-old Amber Hann of Newton Falls.

Hann was at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition, while Lester and Eubank were listed in critical condition at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Dried blood covered the seats and air bags of the car as it sat in an impound lot at the patrol barracks. The keys were still in the ignition.

Preliminary reports say the Mustang was going south on North Leavitt Road just before the curve at Canoe City when the driver lost control and slid off the road, hitting a tree. It then split half, which made matters worse, Dragovich said.

''That just deposited people all over,'' Dragovich said.

Cousins of Lester and Bosley were visiting the crash scene, where it is hard to tell anything happened. A female cousin of Lester's, who refused to identify herself, said Lester was shot in the neck last year. Tribune Chronicle files show Lester was one of two men wounded early Aug. 3, 2008, at McMyler Avenue N.W. and Nevada Avenue in Warren.

''He's a good kid, but he's mixed up with the wrong people,'' the cousin said.

Shelby Bosley and Toni Maiese, cousins of Benjamin Bosley, were also at the scene. Shelby Bosley said her mother told her of the accident about 10 a.m. Saturday as she woke up.

''He was pretty bad, but he was always there for family,'' Shelby Bosley said. ''Out of everyone in the family, he was the most respectful.''

''He loved being around his family,'' Maiese added.

Bosley has a 2-year-old son, Chase, and both cousins were upset that he will not get to know his father.

''It sucks because he's not going to be there for Chase,'' Shelby Bosley said.

The patrol still is investigating the crash.

jgorman@tribtoday.com