WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.270 --> 00:00:12.270 - July 16th, 2005, the day my son and three other 2 00:00:13.090 --> 00:00:15.920 teenagers lost their lives in a terrible wreck. 3 00:00:15.920 --> 00:00:17.270 It happened approximately, a little 4 00:00:17.270 --> 00:00:18.970 after five o'clock in the evening. 5 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.560 Josh and I had played golf that morning and we did 6 00:00:23.560 --> 00:00:26.320 a lot of things together but I had a wedding to go to. 7 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:27.880 A client of mine was getting married and 8 00:00:27.880 --> 00:00:30.060 he didn't want to go so he came on home. 9 00:00:30.060 --> 00:00:34.640 And he and Justin, one of the other victims of the wreck, 10 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.860 they decided they were just gonna hang around the lake. 11 00:00:36.860 --> 00:00:38.870 And just piddle around. 12 00:00:38.870 --> 00:00:40.820 But it turned out as they went and visited some other, 13 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:44.980 some young ladies that went to school with Justin. 14 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:47.330 And when I got home from the wedding, 15 00:00:47.330 --> 00:00:50.500 I talked to Josh's mom and she actually never 16 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:52.910 saw him that day because we left early 17 00:00:52.910 --> 00:00:54.690 that morning and he didn't come home. 18 00:00:54.690 --> 00:00:57.720 But after awhile I got a little, I don't know, 19 00:00:57.720 --> 00:00:59.290 something overcame me a little bit, 20 00:00:59.290 --> 00:01:03.010 and I got worried because it was maybe 21 00:01:03.010 --> 00:01:05.190 an hour or so later and he hadn't called. 22 00:01:05.190 --> 00:01:08.420 And so I decided that I needed to go look for him. 23 00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:12.530 And, you know, fortunately or unfortunately, 24 00:01:12.530 --> 00:01:15.190 I took every right turn out of our neighborhood 25 00:01:15.190 --> 00:01:18.040 and I came up on an area where they 26 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.280 were blocking traffic to this car wreck. 27 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.590 And when I told them who I was and when they told me 28 00:01:23.590 --> 00:01:26.760 the description of the vehicles involved in the wreck, 29 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:28.740 I indicated that I thought that was my son. 30 00:01:28.740 --> 00:01:33.740 So I ended up coming to the car wreck and I got there. 31 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:36.360 I could see two bodies laid out on the ground. 32 00:01:36.360 --> 00:01:37.373 It was chaos. 33 00:01:38.660 --> 00:01:41.210 Ironically I had warned my son of this 34 00:01:41.210 --> 00:01:44.720 curve two weeks to the day prior to that. 35 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:48.550 And I knew where the wreck was gonna be before I got there. 36 00:01:48.550 --> 00:01:52.680 But I, the chaos of the actual site is hard to describe. 37 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:56.920 I can't, I don't think I can even take it all in, but. 38 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.370 On July 16th, my son and Justin Angell, 39 00:02:00.370 --> 00:02:02.610 and Marquee Epperly, and Skylar Wilson all 40 00:02:02.610 --> 00:02:06.170 were killed instantly in a terrible car wreck. 41 00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:08.170 Speed was a little bit of a factor. 42 00:02:08.170 --> 00:02:10.010 At the time of the wreck, the speed limit, 43 00:02:10.010 --> 00:02:11.500 there was no speed limit. 44 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:14.640 So in a rural road, it's 55. 45 00:02:14.640 --> 00:02:19.090 The state troopers estimated Josh doing between 55 and 60. 46 00:02:19.090 --> 00:02:22.843 They estimated Mr. Connor's truck doing between 50 and 55. 47 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:26.670 I measured the distance, Josh went off 48 00:02:26.670 --> 00:02:29.600 the road 17 inches with his right wheels. 49 00:02:29.600 --> 00:02:33.110 This particular road is an old 50 00:02:33.110 --> 00:02:34.870 tobacco road with asphalt on it. 51 00:02:34.870 --> 00:02:37.240 It actually is, it's a blind curve. 52 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.560 That's why I had warned him two weeks before. 53 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.060 From the direction Mr. Connor, who was driving the truck 54 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:44.900 was coming, you could see this curve a half a mile away. 55 00:02:44.900 --> 00:02:48.370 But from the direction Josh was coming, it comes up on you. 56 00:02:48.370 --> 00:02:53.370 And the road banks counter to where the turn actually goes. 57 00:02:53.770 --> 00:02:56.980 So, it's a combination of factors. 58 00:02:56.980 --> 00:03:01.530 Speed, everybody had on their seatbelt. 59 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:05.030 And my wife and I, I went to four funerals that week. 60 00:03:05.030 --> 00:03:07.480 And then I went and met Mr. Connor. 61 00:03:07.480 --> 00:03:09.510 Mr. Connor told me, he said Mr. Hale, 62 00:03:09.510 --> 00:03:12.940 you said that your son had perfect control of that car. 63 00:03:12.940 --> 00:03:15.140 He had both hands on the wheel. 64 00:03:15.140 --> 00:03:17.010 I didn't even think we would hit. 65 00:03:17.010 --> 00:03:20.320 At the worst, I thought we would just brush. 66 00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:22.510 But he had over, but he had over-corrected. 67 00:03:22.510 --> 00:03:25.330 When he went into the turn, he turned his wheels 68 00:03:25.330 --> 00:03:29.300 to the left in order to go through the curve. 69 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:31.920 And when his right front wheel came back 70 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:35.860 on the hard pavement, he had two pulling wheels and 71 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:38.663 it took him across the road instead of down the road. 72 00:03:39.550 --> 00:03:42.980 It's, over-correcting is a tough thing to practice. 73 00:03:42.980 --> 00:03:47.980 So I think a combination of speed, driver inexperience, 74 00:03:49.040 --> 00:03:53.420 over-correcting, I tell parents to lead by example. 75 00:03:53.420 --> 00:03:57.640 To drive for their children to see them drive 76 00:03:57.640 --> 00:04:00.010 a vehicle the way they want them to drive. 77 00:04:00.010 --> 00:04:03.750 I tell the kids earn the privilege of driving. 78 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:07.110 I tell parents make sure that they learn. 79 00:04:07.110 --> 00:04:08.557 You control 'em.