By:Jonann Brady and Karenlyn Barone
The two 1998 East Rockaway High School graduates were personable and popular, according to those who knew them, and their deaths have left family and friends in a fog of grief.
Though details are sketchy, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, Detective Brian Sessa, said the accident occurred at 7:10 a.m. last Sunday, when the 2001 Lexus Baxter was driving slammed into a public junior high school building at the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 104th Street, in Rockaway Beach, Queens.
"There were just the driver and the passenger," said Sessa. "The car hit a school building, and Brian Baxter was dead on the scene. Christopher Hummel was transported to Peninsula General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival."
Police said Baxter was not impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
"We all loved him so much," said Baxter's mother, Janet, through tears during a telephone interview. "He will be missed more than words can ever say."
Hummel's older brother, Michael, 26, also of East Rockaway, said that Christopher "always had a smile, always made people laugh. It just came naturally to him."
Michael described his brother as a "class clown" who delighted in performing for his friends and was a star of the popular student competition at East Rockaway High, the Rock Rivalry. Christopher, who worked as a computer executive at Mass Quantities in Old Brookville, never gave up his love of performing, and moonlighted as an actor, appearing on "Law & Order," "Sex and the City" and "Oz."
Michael Hummel said the outpouring of support from friends and the community has been tremendous, and a memorial fund in Christopher's memory is planned.
Janet Baxter also expressed her thanks to those who attended a fund-raiser at Bold O'Donoghue's in East Rockaway on Sunday night to benefit the Baxter and Hummel families. The event was an opportunity for friends to come together and support each other in the wake of their loss.
Baxter is survived by his parents, Robert and Janet; a brother, Bobby, 27; a sister, Shannon, 13; and his maternal grandmother, Idell Corrigan. Calling hours were Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 17 and 18, at Perry Funeral Home in Lynbrook.
Hummel is survived by his parents, John and Aileen; his brother and his grandparents, Myron and Cynthia Rubin. Calling hours were Tuesday and Wednesday at Donza Funeral Home in East Rockaway, with Pastor Mark Lukens of Bethany Congregational Church offering a religious service on Wednesday evening. The funeral was held Thursday, Feb. 19, at Greenfield Cemetery.
