Crash leaves mark on 2 survivors

By HELEN ANNE TRAVIS, Times Staff Writer
Published November 30, 2007

Two teenagers died. One woman is in the hospital. Another drove away physically unharmed.

The news outlets focused on the teens, a young couple with big dreams and a bad tire. But survivors are also dealing with the aftermath of Tuesday's accident on Handcart Road.

Connie Johns, 41, had just left her job in the Publix deli and is now in the intensive care unit with shattered vertebrae, broken bones and a vivid memory of the accident.

Sharon Carey, 50, was on her way to pick up a prescription Tuesday and has slept five hours since. She's afraid she'll dream of the wreck.

David Osteen, 18, and his girlfriend, Rebecca McCann, 16, were driving south on Handcart Road on Tuesday afternoon when Osteen tried to pass Carey's Buick Park Avenue. His tire blew out and his Honda spun out of control, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The Honda hit Johns' Kia Sorento.

The teens died at the scene.

Johns was airlifted to a Tampa hospital.

Carey spoke to officials and then picked up her prescription.

Two days after the wreck and no one wants to sound self-centered. Carey and Johns' family talk about the teens before they begin to list their own woes.

"My heart is aching for the parents," Carey said.

"My heart goes out to those teenagers families," said Johns' sister-in-law, Doris Johns. "But Connie is still suffering, too."

Connie Johns lives with her mother and nieces and nephews in Dade City. She was the one who kept track of family members' birthdays.

She remembers braking when the Honda passed the Buick, her family said.

She watched the tire shred.

Wednesday, someone told her the teens had died. Johns cried, but her family worries how she will react to that news once she's off the pain medication.

"She's not showing a whole lot of emotion," Doris Johns said. "You can't really read her yet."

Carey can't get the sounds out of her head.

She heard the tire blow. Her husband was also in the car and the two ran out to the Honda after the accident.

They heard Johns' screams. Music blasted from the crumpled Honda.

She doesn't remember what kind of music, but it wasn't any of the country artists she listens to. It was so loud.

"I kept thinking to myself , 'Someone shut that off.' I wish someone would shut that off," Carey said.

She takes Advil to deal with the headaches she's had since Tuesday. The past two nights, she's cried for the teens instead of slept.

"I'm a walking basket case," she said.

What would make her feel better?

"If I could just forget."

Helen Anne Travis can be reached at (352) 521-6518 or htravis@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 29, 2007, 22:17:45]