Multi-Fatality Crash Stuns Responder, Va. Eastern Shore

ONANCOCK -- Barely 10 minutes after Tres Atkinson finished a late dinner at Peppers Restaurant with his younger brother and four buddies, the volunteer firefighter's pager went off.

The alarm for a horrendous, two-vehicle crash a short distance away gave few details and no names.

Still, "I knew exactly then" what had happened, he said Saturday .

He raced to the scene . It was his brother's sport utility vehicle, crushed in a tangle of steel and glass with a pickup .

His brother and three friends were gone. Another buddy was badly hurt. None had been wearing seat belts, police said. A toddler in the pickup also was dead, his mother seriously hurt.

He punched a wooden post in frustration. A second swing broke his hand.

"Most of them, we've grown up together, ever since we were in diapers," he said of the men in the SUV, all 20 or 21.

His brother, Jared, was younger by a year and five months, Atkinson said, trying to stifle tears.

All the other guys could just as well have been kin, he said.

The five deaths came three weeks after a similarly horrific crash claimed four lives. Among them was a youngster who - like the 2-year-old in Friday's wreck - was not properly secured in a child safety seat, State Police said.

Sgt. D.S. Carr, a State Police spokesman, said the collision occurred when the SUV swerved across the median of the four-lane road, overturned and crashed onto the oncoming pickup .

The victims from the SUV were identified by Carr as:

Jared Randolph Atkinson, 21, of Wachapreague.

Justin Carter Bradshaw, 21, of Harborton Road in Harborton.

Jonathon Paul Nolz, 21, of Meadville Drive in Onancock.

Jereme James Parks, 20, of Evergreen Lane, just west of Melfa.

All had attended Nandua High School in Onley.

The 2-year-old boy, a passenger in the pickup , was identified as Jose Antonio Chapa.

The boy's mother, 28-year-old Angela Jean Moore of Onancock, was driving the pickup . She was trapped for a time in the wreckage.

After being freed by rescue crews who had to cut through the crushed pickup to reach her, Moore was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital by the Nightingale helicopter ambulance.

A hospital spokeswoman said Moore was in fair condition Saturday night.

The fifth occupant of the SUV, identified by Carr as Tomas Justin Hrubbs, 24, also was flown to Norfolk General. He was listed in critical condition in the trauma center Saturday night.

His address was not available.

The crash happened about 10:20 p.m. on Market Street, Va. 179, just outside downtown Onancock, about three-tenths of a mile west of U.S. 13, the major north-south route along the Eastern Shore.

Carr said it appeared the 2000 Ford Explorer driven by the younger Atkinson was heading east toward U.S. 13 when it ran off the roadway to the right.

"The driver over corrected," Carr said, and the SUV swerved back onto the road, into the westbound lanes. It struck a curb, overturned several times and landed on top of the 1996 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Moore.

JoLynn Hart heard the crash from inside her consignment shop. The noise ended with a "deafening crack, thud," she said.

Hart ran outside.

"I heard this poor woman screaming for help," she said Saturday.

Hart ran back inside to call 911. She returned to the crash but knew there was nothing she could do.

She called 911 again to make sure they knew how bad it was.

"I felt helpless," she said.

Hart began flagging down motorists and found a man trained in emergency medical treatment. Soon after, police, firefighters and medical personnel began arriving.

The news spread quickly. R elatives and friends of several of those involved in the crash arrived at the scene.

"There's probably no one on the Shore that isn't affected," said Hart, who knows the parents of three of the victims.

At Bradshaw's parents' home, Kyle Bundick laughed and cried over memories of his best friend .