 "Photo: Brandon Chapple ~ Daily Egyptian")
Two students crawled out of a car that had flipped multiple times Saturday, marking the latest in a series of car accidents that have left four students hospitalized during the past two weeks.
Wesley Crocket, a senior from Hoffman Estates studying hospitality and tourism, remains in serious condition at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale after his car was found flipped in the front yard of a Giant City Road home just before 5:40 p.m. Saturday.
Sgt. Dave Nichols of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said Crocket and passenger Raymond Sitkowski, a junior studying journalism, were northbound on Giant City Road when their vehicle left the road. He said the vehicle flipped multiple times before landing upside down in the 6400 block of Giant City Road.
Crocket was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and drunken driving.
He has been ticketed twice for not wearing a seat belt, according to court records.
Nichols said both Crocket and Sitkowski, who was released from the hospital, were wearing seatbelts, Nichols said.
Meanwhile, two students remain hospitalized at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. after they were injured in separate car accidents.
Peter Bronkema, a senior from Robinson studying political science, is in fair condition after he was in a single-vehicle accident on Old Route 13 near Reed Station Road early Thursday.
The Rev. Bob Gray, chaplain to the Carbondale Police Department, said Bronkema has serious injuries to his right lung and is suffering from pneumonia. He has been sedated until his lung heals, Gray said.
Another student, Ben Miller, a junior from Robinson studying technical resource management, has been in critical condition since a March 23 motorcycle accident, a nursing supervisor at the hospital confirmed.
Gray said Miller breathed on his own for two hours Thursday after doctors took him off a ventilator. A Web site maintained by Miller’s sister says he has a contusion on his brain stem and a gash on his right ankle.
Dean of Students Peter Gitau said students should take precautions, such as avoiding drunken driving and wearing a motorcycle helmet, to prevent serious accidents.
“The students need to talk to fellow students and say, ‘This is the responsible thing to do,” he said.
Gitau said he made sure the hospitalized students’ medical bills are covered by their university health insurance and alerted their professors of the accidents. He said anyone who knows a student involved in a serious accident should report it to the office of Student Affairs.
Madeleine Leroux
contributed to this report.
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