TMCnet News
Fatal crash in north Harris County possibly tied to racingOct 25, 2008 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- What looked to bystanders like a brief street race on one of Harris County's busiest streets ended in a horrifying collision Friday that claimed the lives of an elderly woman and two Klein Forest High School students. Zachary Larwa, 18, was driving his father's 2004 Nissan 350Z when he swerved, lost control and skidded into oncoming westbound traffic in the 2800 block of FM 1960 W shortly after 1 p.m. Larwa's vehicle, which police said may have been traveling in excess of 90 mph, hit a 2008 Honda Civic, killing its driver, 74-year-old Anna Karpenia. Zarwa's passenger, Phi Le, 18, also died at the scene. "I knew the second I heard it that there was no way anyone was going to survive that wreck," said Bryan Cotton, an employee of a Discount Tire shop down the street. "The sound put a chill down my spine." Cotton and fellow employee Jeff Bolt heard engines revving at a stop light and looked up in time to see the Nissan and another car zoom past. They said Larwa tried to maneuver around another car in the middle lane and immediately lost control. "They were racing," Bolt said. "He tried to move around a car and went into a skid." He said Karpenia likely never saw what hit her. The force of the impact knocked the engine out of her car and onto the road about 100 feet away. "I saw him get into the opposite lane and thought, 'Oh no,' " Cotton said. "The silver car never had a chance." Harris County Sheriff's Office investigators briefly detained the driver of the other alleged race vehicle, a 2006 Infiniti G35 coupe, who had returned to the scene. He gave a statement to them and denied being involved in a race. "He said he was in the area and observed the crash, but said he wasn't racing," said sheriff's Lt. Darryl Coleman. Michael and Melissa Larwa began to worry Friday afternoon when Zachary didn't come home from Klein Forest High School. They tried his cell phone, but no one answered. "It's weird. It's not like Zack not to call," Michael Larwa recalled in a phone interview. Soon some of Zachary's friends stopped by their house. One mentioned an accident about 3 miles away on FM 1960, near Northgate Country Club. It involved a gold Nissan 350Z with black rims, just like Zachary's. Michael Larwa jumped in his pickup. When he arrived at the scene, he saw acrumpled sports car -- the car that his son loved dearly, kept spotless, drove to impromptu parking-lot car shows, photographed endlessly to post on his MySpace page. Zachary even had a nickname for it: Peaches. His father said he does not believe his son would have been racing. "They always push this racing thing just because the kid is driving a nice little sports car," Larwa said in a phone interview Friday night. "I think that's blown out of proportion." "I've let him drive so much on my truck. He'll go 55-60 (miles per hour), and he's afraid to go faster than that. I don't think he was racing. I think somebody was cutting him off. I know I'm his father, but I know him. My neighbors can vouch for me." The crash scene suggested otherwise, if not racing then extreme speed. The force of the impact obliterated the front of the Honda and rendered the Nissan unrecognizable, sending its front bumper 50 yards down the street. "Kids are blistering by here every day," said Adam Stegman, a mechanic at nearby Christian Brothers Automotive. "Friday afternoon on 1960 -- that doesn't make any sense. This is what happens. That was the loudest wreck I've heard in my life." Les Tollett, the manager of a Bank of Texas branch near the crash site, said a number of people rushed to the wreckage to help those pinned inside, but when they got close they realized there was nothing that could be done. "We could immediately see they were unconscious and probably deceased," Tollett said. "A nurse got there right away and could find no signs of life. It's so sad for the community to see this kind of thing." Larwa was letting his son drive the Nissan to and from school and his after-school job at Staples. Zachary and his friends loved cars, his dad said. "They all have nice cars. They were all showing them off on the weekends," Larwa said. Zachary, a high school senior, also enjoyed computers, and had golfed since he was 2, his dad said. He planned to go into the Air Force or the Navy after graduating from high school, and then to become a doctor. The Larwas moved to Houston from Pennsylvania a few years ago to be closer to family, Zachary's father said. Le, the passenger, was a junior at Klein Forest, according to school district spokeswoman Liz Johnson. "The entire Klein Forest student body and the staff have been very saddened by this loss," Johnson said. Before kickoff at the school's football game against Klein, a moment of silence was held. [email protected] [email protected] To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Houston Chronicle Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |