Grief counseling will be available throughout the week by appointment at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School and Julius E. Sprauve School to help students, staff and family deal with the death of Elvis Smith, 16, in a single-vehicle accident Saturday on St. John.
Another teen was seriously injured in the 4:56 a.m. accident and was transferred to a mainland medical facility, Government House said in a Monday press release.
A 22-year-old passenger in the 1995 Honda Accord also suffered a head injury.
Smith and the other minor were in the backseat. The driver, 26, and another 22-year-old were in the front seat and not injured. All were males. Emergency responders used the Jaws of Life to get them out.
The accident happened on Centerline Road near the Colombo Yogurt stand. The car hit a utility pole before coming to rest most of the way off the road.
Government House spokesman Kimberly Jones said that while grief counseling hasn’t been a common practice in the territory, Acting Education Commissioner Sharon McCollum thought it was necessary.
“It’s recommended that when you have a child die in a tragedy you provide grief counseling,” Jones said.
She said while the seriously injured teen is in Kean’s 10th grade, it’s not clear whether Smith attended that school or not. However, she said, both youths and other Kean and Sprauve students all knew each other.
Police Department spokesman Melody Rames said the department is still investigating the accident, and that such investigations usually take a while.
