Morning crash kills HAHS student

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October 29, 2009

BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL The Commercial-News Thu Oct 29, 2009, 09:09 PM CDT

HOOPESTON — It was a dark day at Hoopeston Area High School on Thursday as students and staff mourned the loss of a friend and student and worried about the health of another.

Seventeen-year-old Michael Symmonds was killed in a morning vehicle crash along Illinois Route 9 just outside of Hoopeston. As members of the school’s basketball team, he and the driver, Dillon Eighner, 16, of Rankin, were headed for a morning workout.

Superintendent Hank Hornbeck said Thursday was difficult for the school, pointing out that Symmonds had a lot of friends.

“Mike touched all of us,” he said.

The accident was being talked about in classes, Hornbeck said, and the school was providing grief counselors for students as well as staff members to help them deal with Symmonds’ death.

The school’s local cable station broadcasted a photo in memory of Symmonds on Thursday, with the words “Our Classmate, Our Teammate, Our Friend.”

Principal Larry Maynard had spoken to Symmonds and his family just days ago about what the student’s plans were for after high school. Maynard described Symmonds as charismatic and “all about Cornjerker pride.”

“He never knew a stranger. He was friends with everyone,” Maynard said.

That made getting through school hours more difficult for both students and teachers alike.

“This is a day you don’t ever want to see,” Maynard said, referring to both Symmonds death and the injuries to Eighner. “It affects all of us a lot. There’s not a dry eye in the house on a day like today.”

According to Illinois State Police, the accident happened just after 6 a.m. Thursday in Eighner’s pickup truck.

Eighner was driving east on Illinois Route 9 when the truck crossed the westbound lane and left the road on the north side. Eighner then tried to swerve back onto the roadway, but lost control of the truck, which skidded into the path of an oncoming semi.

The semi driver, Emmett Fishel, 71, of Clayton, Ind., was not injured in the accident.

Both teenagers had to be extricated from the pickup truck. Symmonds was pronounced dead at Hoopeston Community Memorial Hospital at 6:45 a.m.

Eighner also was taken to Hoopeston hospital and then airlifted to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana for treatment. A spokeswoman for the hospital said Thursday afternoon that the facility had no record of Eighner at the hospital.

State police issued Eighner a citation for improper lane usage as a result of the crash.

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