How tragic and shame for such a loss over something so stupid. I am going to talk to both my sons about this.

Go to link for complete story

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4198416&page=1

By CHRISTINE BROUWER
Jan. 28, 2008



" Share The 18-year-old behind the wheel of a BMW that crashed this weekend, killing five Florida teens was reportedly online hours earlier seeking advice on a BMW chat room on problems he was having with the transmission when he hit 140 mph in the $80,000 car.

The grisly accident took place around 3:45 a.m. Saturday at the Jumbolair Aviation Estates, an exclusive gated enclave for private jet owners in Ocala, Fla., where actor John Travolta is a resident.

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Residents also complained to police about the lack of security at the airstrip, saying teens had been caught sneaking cars onto the runway.

Authorities say Joshua Ammirato, 18, of Fairfield, Fla., snuck his his father's gray 2008 BMW M-5 onto the main runway, with four friends onboard. Police say after racing down the strip, the car flew off an approximately 85-foot-high embankment at the end of the runway. They say the car was going so fast it went airborne for about 200 feet before slamming into a tree.

The car was split in two upon impact, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, ejecting three passengers and partially ejecting the other two.

All five victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

Ammirato likely "braked and turned," said the patrol's Lt. Mike Burroughs, after he either "saw a hazard coming or realized that he was nearing the end of the runway," flipping the car sideways before sending it over the edge.

Burroughs told ABC News he could not speculate on the exact speed of the car at the time of the accident.

All five victims had recently graduated from high schools in the area. James Devon Hime and Dustin Dawe, both 19, had been co-captains of the wrestling team at North Marion High, Kathy Quelland, the school's principal, told ABC News. Ammirato had also been on the wrestling team; 20-year-old Isaac Rubin played football at a nearby high school.

Quelland said the community was "devastated" upon hearing of the accident.

None of the victims was a resident of the exclusive community.

Authorities said it appears Ammirato and his friends entered the compound through a back entrance that gives access to the 1.5-mile-long runway used by residents to land their private planes, according to Burroughs."

My son just got a car.
It is so sad. A car can take you out in a flash. I lost 3 of my best friends that way. I had to go to 3 funerals in one day.

That is horrible Quinn! I lost a friend in a car accident in Hollywood, FL in 1983, I was 17 years old. We were suppose to meet up with her on Ft. Lauderdale Strip(blushing yes I hung out there :P~~ in it's hey day before they ran everyone to Panama City and Daytona) She never showed up, we went home and I got a HORRIBLE call at 4am in the morning. A mutal friend told me and asked me to go over to her sister's house(6 blocks away) and wake them as no one would answer the phone so I did for the family. Needless to say, when I kept telling Sue to call home they needed her for something. She tried to call and when the phone was busy, she started screaming that the phone is never busy at her dad's house at this time of the night and threatened to punch me(she was flipping out) if I didn't tell her what was going on. IT WAS THE MOST HORRIFIC MOMENT OF MY LIFE(tears welling now) to tell someone that their sister was dead. Sue screamed an ear piercing scream and fainted and fell flat on her back(she went into shock). We all gathered and a few guys came to pick up all her friends and we went to her house, sat in her room. It was the first time in my life that I realized my own mortality because as kids and young teens we think we are invincable and we are never gonna die. Took me a LONG time to get over it. There was a program called Scared Sober that went around to high schools showing picture stills of teens killed in car wrecks. They removed the pictures of her crash at my high school because someone notified that she had friends at our neighboring high school. I went up at the end of the program in the Auditorium and requested to see the photos. It was horrific, but it was my Linda whom I will never forget cruising with on Ft. Lauderdale Strip, smoking cigs and blasting the radio. It gave me a bit of closure.Her songs were Bob Segar Sun Spot Baby and She's a Beauty by The Tubes. They were not drinking and no drugs in systems. They were in a rush and tried to beat the train to meet up with all of us. http://www.learnwebskills.com/browardcem/hollynorthpr.htm scroll down to Poelcher, Linda Ann b 04/05/1966 d 09/17/1983.

that's what happened to my friends. you can't beat the train. you don't have a chance.