HOLMES COUNTY -- Two sets of skid marks scar a bend in State Route 651 just east of the village of Baltic in Holmes County.
One set is from the front wheels, the other from the rear wheels of a 2000 Mercury Cougar as it skidded off the road, slamming sideways into a tree.
The impact killed the driver and lone person in the car, 16-year-old Jeremy Lower, a sophomore at Garaway High School even though he was wearing a seat belt.
"This was an accident," Garaway's Superintendent Darryl Jones told Fox 8 news Monday. "Speed was a factor, he just took a corner too fast and he hit a tree and it's just sad."
Investigators with the highway patrol say speed was a factor, but from their own investigation and from an eyewitness they also believe Jeremy may have been attempting a risky maneuver called "drifting".
"Drifting is a term kids are using nowadays to describe a driving style basically you are coming into a turn at a high rate of speed, you tap the brakes lightly and periodically and try to skid basically skid through the curve," Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Bittinger tells Fox 8.
"We strongly recommend that you do not try it, obviously the people that do that are professionals, trained to do it, and we are not," he said.
The death left people in the community of Baltic stunned. At Jeremy's High school, in Sugarcreek he was described by the districts superintendent as a quiet young man.
"It's been very quiet, we had some counselors in today, some ministers, some youth ministers in for counseling if the kids wanted that, and they have responded, there have been some kids down in the library," said Darryl Jones.
"It makes kids think, they don't need a lot of instruction when something like this happens it makes you think no matter how old you are it makes you appreciate where you're at in life."
Sgt. Bittinger also wants everyone to understand that Jeremy's death is not an excuse to not wear seat belts. He says in most every case, you are are more safe when you buckle-up, than when you do not wear a seat belt.
"Basically the impact was such that it hit right on the drivers side right on the drivers side door, so the seat belt didn't have a bearing on the crash."
One set is from the front wheels, the other from the rear wheels of a 2000 Mercury Cougar as it skidded off the road, slamming sideways into a tree.
The impact killed the driver and lone person in the car, 16-year-old Jeremy Lower, a sophomore at Garaway High School even though he was wearing a seat belt.
"This was an accident," Garaway's Superintendent Darryl Jones told Fox 8 news Monday. "Speed was a factor, he just took a corner too fast and he hit a tree and it's just sad."
Investigators with the highway patrol say speed was a factor, but from their own investigation and from an eyewitness they also believe Jeremy may have been attempting a risky maneuver called "drifting".
"Drifting is a term kids are using nowadays to describe a driving style basically you are coming into a turn at a high rate of speed, you tap the brakes lightly and periodically and try to skid basically skid through the curve," Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Bittinger tells Fox 8.
"We strongly recommend that you do not try it, obviously the people that do that are professionals, trained to do it, and we are not," he said.
The death left people in the community of Baltic stunned. At Jeremy's High school, in Sugarcreek he was described by the districts superintendent as a quiet young man.
"It's been very quiet, we had some counselors in today, some ministers, some youth ministers in for counseling if the kids wanted that, and they have responded, there have been some kids down in the library," said Darryl Jones.
"It makes kids think, they don't need a lot of instruction when something like this happens it makes you think no matter how old you are it makes you appreciate where you're at in life."
Sgt. Bittinger also wants everyone to understand that Jeremy's death is not an excuse to not wear seat belts. He says in most every case, you are are more safe when you buckle-up, than when you do not wear a seat belt.
"Basically the impact was such that it hit right on the drivers side right on the drivers side door, so the seat belt didn't have a bearing on the crash."
