A Maura Way girl was flown by medical helicopter to Boston after she and two other teens were injured in a car accident on Essex Avenue early Sunday morning. A fourth teen, the car's driver, was arrested on a charge of drunken driving.
The car, a 2002 Oldsmobile Bravado driven by Jason Korinko, 18, of 12 Addison St., Apt. 2., struck a telephone pole at 12:49 a.m. Sunday, shattering it into four pieces. Those pieces and the wires fell onto Essex Avenue, forcing police to close the road between Bond Street and Western Avenue for more than 12 hours while crews from Verizon replaced the pole.
Inside the vehicle were passengers Zach Dench, 17, of Foster Street; Alyssa Bennett, 16, of Maura Way; Laura Taormina, 16, of Samoset Road and Jessica Pepe, 19, of Rockport. Dench, Pepe and Taormina were in the back seat and able to crawl out of the vehicle but Bennett was trapped in the front passenger seat.
According to police, the car was speeding while traveling west on Essex Avenue toward the Heights of Cape Ann and weaved back and forth between lanes for nearly 400 feet before finally hitting the utility pole. The car struck the pole with enough force to lift it completely out of the ground. The crumpled car came to rest on the passenger side.
Several good Samaritans who came upon the scene stopped to help the teens, police noted.
Dangling wires from the smashed pole hindered rescuers' efforts to free Bennett from the car, police said. First responders said Korinko repeatedly tried to remove Bennett himself even after being told not to touch the injured girl. Bennett was eventually removed from the vehicle and transported by ambulance to Addison Gilbert Hospital with what police described as "serious" injuries. Bennett was later flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Calls to Massachusetts General last night seeking information on Bennett's condition were not returned.
Korinko, who exited the car through a rear window and was uninjured, was taken away from the scene by police to perform sobriety tests. Police concluded Korinko was under the influence of alcohol. Korinko agreed to breath tests at the police station. Results showed Korinko had a blood-alcohol level of at least .14, well above the legal limit of .08.
Police placed Korinko under arrest on charges of drunken driving, operating to endanger, marked lanes violations and speeding.
Based on the physical damage to the car and skid marks, police determined the Bravado was traveling far in excess of the posted 35 mph speed limit.
Pepe told police that as the vehicle was approaching the curve in Essex Avenue by the Manor Inn, it began to swerve from side to side before the collision. Police said 360 feet of skid marks indicated the vehicle went into the eastbound lane, crossed back into the westbound lane and then swerved into the eastbound lane a final time before leaving the roadway and crashing into the pole and a rock ledge.
Pepe and Taormina were transported by ambulance to Addison Gilbert complaining of bumps and general stiffness. Police said Dench refused ambulance care despite lacerations to his face.
The passengers told police Korinko was driving, which Korinko had denied. When police first asked Korinko if he had been drinking Saturday night, he said that he had a few drinks earlier that evening. The second time officers asked him, he denied drinking.
Yesterday, National Grid spokeswoman Jackie Barry said residents did not suffer any power outages as a result of the accident. Verizon had to replace the broken pole and National Grid crews swapped its wires over to the new pole before police could reopen the road shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday.
