COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP, OH., (Indiana's NewsCenter)--- - A car carrying five teenagers went airborne as it sped over railroad tracks in northeast Ohio early Sunday and crashed, killing three of the teens, including the 18-year-old driver who was hours away from his high school graduation, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. Two others were hospitalized.
The driver was a senior football player whose Brunswick High School graduation ceremony was scheduled Sunday afternoon.
The 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier was traveling at a high speed just after midnight when the driver lost control. The car went airborne and then off the right side of the roadway, then swerved across the left side of the road, hit a ditch and tree, then flipped over onto the roadway, according to the troopers' report.
The driver, Jeffrey Chaya, and two passengers, 17-year-old Blake Bartchak and 16-year-old Lexi Poerner, were killed, the patrol said.
Another passenger, Kevin Fox, was thrown from the car into a ditch, troopers said. Fox, 18, was flown to Cleveland Metro Health Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.
The fifth person in the car, identified by troopers as 17-year-old Julia Romito, was taken to Southwest General Hospital, which wouldn't release information on her.
Troopers were investigating the crash Sunday. They said the only confirmed factor was unsafe speed, although they were still calculating the car's estimated speed.
Chaya, a wide receiver on the Brunswick High football team, had posted Saturday on his Twitter account: "Weird to think graduation is tomorrow time does fly big time."
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