Late June is always a trying time for high school students due to exams, but some students around Sudbury are now also coping with the death of their friends.
Three teenagers have been killed in a drunk driving incident, which happened Sunday morning in the area of Municipal Road 80, near Gatien Avenue in Hanmer.
Greater Sudbury Police have identified the teenagers as Caitlin Skye Jelley, 15, Jazmine Houle, 15, and Steven Philippe, 16.
“Our students are obviously quite traumatized by this,” said Mike Mirka, principal of Confederation Secondary School.
“This is a crazy time of the year, we just started exams today.”
Two of the three victims, Houle and Philippe, attended the school. Jelley attended St. Charles College.
Students at the school will be allowed to write exams if they wish, but others, if they are still “traumatized,” will be given leniency, Mirka said.
The Rainbow District School Board's trauma team was on hand at Confederation to help students and staff deal with the deaths.
On June 21, at about 12:40 a.m., a call was received through 911 indicating that there had been a “very serious” collision on Municipal Road 80 near Centennial drive in Hanmer, according to police.
Police said a car was traveling eastbound, overtook an eastbound vehicle, narrowly struck a westbound vehicle and lost control. The car then crossed the centre line onto the north shoulder of the roadway, striking the three teens. All three youth were later pronounced dead by attending physicians.
The suspect, Nicolas Piovesan of Val Therese, fled the scene and eventually drove his car into a house on Oscar Street in Hanmer. He was later transported to St. Josephs Health Centre, where he was arrested for impaired driving.
Piovesan has since been charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing death, three counts of “impaired care and control causing death,” three counts of “fail to remain causing death,” as well as the one count of exceeding 80 milligrams of blood alcohol content. Piovesan has been remanded into custody until Wednesday, June 24. He was to appear in bail court Monday.
Alcohol consumption by the driver is believed to be a significant contributing factor in the collision, police said in a press release.
“The loss of three innocent lives in this accident serve as a tragic reminder, which illustrates the potential consequences that may result when an individual makes the decision to drive a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol,” said Deputy Chief of Police Allan Lekun.
Funeral arrangements have been made for Philippe.
Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday at the Lougheed Funeral Home's Hanmer/Capreol Chapel. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at St.Jacques Church in Hanmer.
As of Monday morning, Northern Life's press time, arrangements for Jelley and Houle had not been finalized, said spokespeople with Lougheeds.
On Wednesday at 3 p.m., in the gym at Confederation, there will a memorial service held for the three victims, according to Mirka.
Two memorial groups have been launched on Facebook and are now totaling roughly 5,000 members.
The police investigation into the accident is ongoing and the Traffic Management Unit is looking for the public’s assistance. Anyone who may have information about this crash are asked to call the unit at 675-9171, ext. 2411, 2415 or 2413.
