Teen dies, 2 hurt in SUV crash

His mother said he had apparently taken the keys to her car late Tuesday and was driving around when it overturned early Wednesday.

By DUANE BOURNE
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 10, 2003

WEEKI WACHEE -- A 16-year-old boy was killed and two others were injured when the sport utility vehicle they were traveling in flipped several times early Wednesday, authorities said.

Stephen Lucash Jr. was driving on Indian Trail Road, northeast of Weeki Wachee, shortly after 4 a.m. when he lost control of the Ford Explorer, a Florida Highway Patrol report said. He and passenger Laurie Hancock, 14, were ejected.

Lucash, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead on arrival at Oak Hill Hospital, the FHP report said.

Authorities said Hancock of 11120 Richmond St., north of Weeki Wachee, was in the back seat and was wearing a seat belt. She was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa with serious injuries. Officials at the hospital said they could not disclose her condition because she is a minor.

The other passenger, Matthew Adams, 16, of 9569 Round Lake Drive, near Weeki Wachee, was treated and released from Oak Hill Hospital. He was wearing a seat belt.

Lucash's mother, Helen Fredere, 35, heard the news about 6:30 a.m. when a friend stopped by her home at 9530 Country Road, near Weeki Wachee, and told her that there had been a tragic accident and that someone might be dead.

"I got to the hospital, and they told me it was (Stephen)," said Fredere, shaking her head. "He was my firstborn. We've had a lot of good times."

Like many kids, Fredere said, her son was going through a normal, rebellious teenage stage.

He apparently took her car keys late Tuesday and may have been driving around the neighborhood when he swerved out of control less than a mile from their home, she said. She didn't know where he was going. She said Lucash might have been taking pills earlier in the day.

"I am in shock right now," Fredere said. "I don't know what I am doing."

Friends, family members and well-wishers gathered outside her home Wednesday and offered their condolences to the single mother, who homeschooled her son for two years after he left the Star Center, the Hernando school district's alternative school program.

Some remembered him as a smart, cocky boy whose face never seemed to age.

A few of the family's friends placed jars and fliers around the Weeki Wachee area asking for financial help to bury Lucash.

Meanwhile, Fredere hugged a teen-age girl who bought her flowers.

"Oh, thank you," she said, embracing the girl.

A photograph of Lucash and his "baby face," as his mother called it, was passed around.

"Oh, no," she moaned. "That's him. Oh, no."

-- Duane Bourne covers law enforcement and emergency services in Hernando County and can be reached at 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com.

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