By Brian Zanzonico
Personal messages left by friends of the Elmont residents who were killed on June 14 recalled good times together and begged for an answer to why they were taken so soon. Michael Richardson, 20; Max Lesly-Auguste, 19; Kevin McArthur, 18; and Nyana Adingupu, 16, were killed when Auguste crashed his 1998 Toyota Avalon on Plainfield Avenue after midnight on the way home from a popular pool hall in New Hyde Park Road. Another passenger, Aaron Richardson-Hourie, 16, a sophomore at Floral Park, sustained minor injuries.
It was supposed to be a time of celebration. McArthur, known to his friends as "Eggy," had completed his last day of classes at Floral Park High School and was to graduate June 24. Instead, his mother, Paulina, his father, Richard - who Sewanhaka Superintendent Dr. John Williams said suffered a mild heart attack after learning of his son's death - and three sisters buried him 72 hours before he was to walk with his class.
Adingupu lived less than a mile from the accident site, and was finishing up her sophomore year at Sewanhaka High School. Richardson, a 2003 graduate of Elmont High, has a brother in eighth grade in the Elmont School District.
Police said that Auguste, a 2005 Kellenberg Memorial High School graduate who had just completed his freshman year at Princeton, lost control of his car on a southbound bend of Plainfield Avenue and slammed into a tree not far from several homes. One of the emergency responders to the accident, McArthur's fellow Floral Park senior Kevin Getschel, whom a source said suffered from heart ailments, died in his sleep a day after the fatal crash. According to a source, Getschel organized the makeshift memorial for the crash victims.
"It's been horrible," said Kathleen Sottile, Floral Park's principal.
School guidance counselors trained in grief counseling offered their services not only to students at Floral Park High, but to parents and teachers as well. At Sewanhaka, grief counselors were available all day last Friday and Saturday. Gateway Youth Outreach, an Elmont youth group, had counselors on hand after school.
Tuesday morning, there was a memorial assembly for McArthur and Getschel at Floral Park High. Parents of both students were invited and were to be presented with their diplomas, Sottile explained. "It's a great tribute," she said. "A celebration of their lives. Students put their hearts into preparing slide shows [of McArthur and Getschel] for the parents."
Residents of the bend of Plainfield Avenue and nearby Clarence Street said they typically hear the screech of brakes late at night. Some said they brace themselves for the sound of a collision that almost never comes. Last Wednesday, a long screech was followed by a boom. Police have not determined whether excessive speed or other circumstances contributed to the crash.
"It's a tough road," said Williams, who visited the site hours after the accident. "There's been accidents at or near the scene in the past. It's such a tragedy."
One of the messages left for McArthur at the tree was written by Candace Ramsaroop, who asked simply, "Why did you have to leave us?" A community is asking the same question.
Comments about this story? FSeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
