MACOMB, ILL.—Two teen-age drivers were charged with reckless homicide Wednesday for “hotrod racing” which caused the death of two sisters in an auto accident involving 14 high school students after a Valentine party.
Marilyn Mayall, 14, of Plymouth, died in Macomb hospital Wednesday of injuries received Monday night the tragedy in which her sister, Barbara, 16, was killed. Eight others were hospitalized.
Drivers of the cars charged in warrants sworn out by state police are Gary Fowler, 16, of Birmingham, and Sidney Allen, 19, near Plymouth.
Fowler, one of the injured still confined to the hospital, was driving a car containing 10 youngsters. Allen was accompanied by three young men.
State Policeman Ralph Kennedy said the trunk of Allen’s car was filled with bags of sand, and explained: “Sandbagging is a practice used by hotrodders to gain traction for a car’s rear wheels and to hold the car on the road on curves.”
Kennedy said both drivers admitted they were racing, with the cars sometimes side by side. They were alongside each other near Colmar, when they met a car coming from the opposite direction.
Allen pulled off the left shoulder of the road, permitting the oncoming car to go between him and Fowler’s car. When Allen pulled back onto the road, he told Kennedy, he tried to pass Fowler but cut in too sharply and hooked the other car with his rear bumper.
The Fowler car, thrown out of control, plunged into a concrete abutment. Parts of the car and its occupants were strewn for a long distance on both sides of the road.
Secretary of State Charles Carpentier revoked the driver licenses of Gary Fowler, Birmingham and Sidney L. Allen, Plymouth. The action was taken under discretionary authority which permits the secretary to revoke the licenses of drivers who by unlawful operation of a motor vehicle contributes to an accident which causes a fatality.
The licenses are definitely revoked for one year. After one year the youths may apply for new licenses.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus