April 22, 2004

YSHS senior dies in car crash as driver is seriously hurt

Friends remember Arla Smith

YSHS senior Arla Smith died in a car crash on East Enon Road last Friday. Read related story.

It was a beautiful warm spring day last Friday, April 16, when around noon a car carrying two Yellow Springs High School seniors crashed into a tree on East Enon Road, leaving one seriously injured and the other dead.

Arla K. Smith, the passenger in the car driven by Anthony Brandon, was pronounced dead at 12:39 p.m. at the scene of the one-car accident, Miami Township Fire-Rescue Chief Colin Altman said. Brandon was transported to Greene Memorial Hospital, and was released from the hospital Monday.

According to Trooper Ed McKenney of the Ohio State Patrol, who is investigating the crash, the students left the high school around noon and were heading south on East Enon Road, apparently to get lunch. Brandon, who has a temporary driver’s permit, had borrowed the 1989 Buick LaSabre from his friend, Cody Johnson.

About a half mile from YSHS, the car ran off the road on the right and struck a mailbox, McKenney said. Brandon then apparently overcorrected to the left, ran off that side of the road and hit a large tree in front of a house, McKenney said.

Two Antioch Company employees appeared on the scene shortly after and called 911. According to Altman, Yellow Springs police officer Al Pierce responded first, followed by the rescue squad at 12:05 p.m. Finding Smith “unconscious and unresponsive,” they called Miami Valley Hospital’s CareFlight. The squad removed Smith from the car using the Jaws of Life, an effort that took about 10 minutes, Altman said.

Smith went into cardiac arrest after being removed from the car, and the squad immediately began CPR, Altman said.

By this time, several others had arrived at the scene, including several members of Smith’s family, YSHS Principal John Gudgel, Yellow Springs Superintendent Tony Armocida, Smith’s volleyball coach, Shirley Martin, her cheerleading advisor, Lisa Crosswhite and family friend Orlando Brown, among others. Seven members of the rescue squad were also on the scene, plus two from Hustead, along with officials with the Ohio State Patrol and the Greene County sheriff’s office.

At 12:39 the rescue squad stopped their efforts and conferred with a physician before declaring Smith dead, Altman said.

It was the first fatal car accident involving a Yellow Springs teenager in almost 20 years.

YSHS senior Anthony Brandon was seriously hurt when the car he was driving hit a tree last Friday.

Brandon, who had been removed from the car after the steering wheel was cut out, was taken to Greene Memorial Hospital in Xenia, where he underwent a six-hour surgery that day, his uncle Wayne Baker said. Brandon suffered bruises to his lungs, injuries to his legs and massive facial injuries and was hospitalized overnight in the intensive care unit in critical condition. Brandon was released from the hospital on Monday and taken to the home of his father, Wesley Robinson, in Yellow Springs, Baker said.

McKenney said on Monday that the investigation into the crash is ongoing and will be completed within a few weeks. There is no evidence that alcohol or drug use contributed to the crash, said McKenney. He also said he has not yet had time to calculate the speed the car was traveling. While he has not ruled out that it may have been traveling at a high speed, McKenney said that Brandon could have been following the posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour. Neither Brandon nor Smith was wearing a seatbelt, he said.

According to an employee at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a driver with a temporary permit may legally drive in the presence of a licensed driver 21 years old or older.

Yellow Springs High School students were told of Smith’s death at a school assembly on Friday at 3 p.m., according to Armocida, who said that grief counselors were already on the scene due to the death two days earlier of coach Bryon Stubblefield.

On Monday morning, school was delayed for two hours and it is canceled tomorrow, Friday, April 23, due to Smith’s funeral. The funeral will take place at 2 p.m. at Central Chapel AME Church. The viewing and visiting with Smith’s family will take place from noon to 2 p.m. on that day.

—Diane Chiddister