What started out as a good day quickly took a turn for the worst when seven Randall students became subjects of a terrible accident during lunch. On October 13, Bryant Betancourt, Wayne Frazier, Matt Newsome, Aaron Parker, Cameron Sharber, Erin Talamantez and Isaac Thompson were victims of a brutal car wreck that resulted in severe concussions, broken bones, and scarred memories.
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) had a few students carried away on stretchers shortly after the accident and all but two of them were taken to the hospital. Junior Matt Newsome was behind the wheel of a 1999 Ford F-150 when an unidentified object steered his attention from the road and he began to swerve.
“We rolled the truck three times,” sophomore Wayne Frazier said. “We were just chilling with nowhere to go, driving down Western. Then I think a dog ran out in front [of the truck] so we swerved left. We hit a tree and popped a tire. We hit another tree and it ruined the bumper. Matt for some reason hit the gas and we just went flying across to the other side of the street and hit a deep ditch. That’s when we started flipping.”
Because they were “crammed” in the middle of the backseat, sophomore Cameron Sharber and junior Bryant Betancourt were happy to be the only two who didn’t suffer injuries bad enough for a hospital visit. They were driven back to school after lunch by Sharber’s dad. However their friends were not so lucky.
“At first I thought I had it under control but yeah that didn’t happen,” Newsome said. “I’m pretty sure I had a concussion and I know I sprained my back. I was in the hospital for five hours and the doctors told me I had permeated discs. I remember stuff flying all over the place and Cameron’s glasses just landed perfectly, folded and everything, in my lap.”
The vehicle crashed into three trees and also knocked down a barb-wired fence; the impact was on its passengers was harsh.
“It was like [the truck] was being played in pinball by God,” junior Erin Talamantez said.
It also resulted in sophomore Aaron Parker’s broken collarbone along with a “few cracked ribs” and the fracture of two bones in sophomore Isaac Thompson’s arm. Parker also recalled to losing a great deal of his memory during his temporary stay at Northwest Hospital.
“The EMT said that if it were any other truck we wouldn’t [have been so lucky]” said Sharber.
Not only bad things came out of their near death experience. Although their lives had been put in danger, they overcame that as a group, bringing them closer together. There was one other thing in particular that they’re especially happy for.
“Our settlement check from the hospital bills is going to be a lot of money,” Newsome said. “I am using that money to buy a new truck. Too bad for Bryant and Cameron—they don’t get any money,” he laughed.
