CANANDAIGUA - Text messages were sent back and forth on a 17-year-old girl's cell phone moments before her sport utility vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates, police said Friday.
Bailey Goodman was driving friends to her parents' vacation home when her SUV, which had just passed a car, swerved back into oncoming traffic, hit a tractor-trailer and burst into flames.
Five days earlier, the five teenagers had graduated together from high school in Fairport, a Rochester suburb.
Goodman's inexperience at the wheel, evidence she was driving above the speed limit at night on a winding, two-lane highway and a succession of calls and text messages on her phone were cited by Sheriff Phil Povero as possible factors in the June 28 crash in western New York's Finger Lakes region.
“The records indicate her phone was in use,” Povero said. “We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. ...
“We all certainly know that cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident,” he added.
Several minutes before the first 911 call came in, Goodman talked briefly with one of four fellow graduates who were trailing her in another vehicle. Two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a male friend who lived in a nearby town, Povero said.
He sent a reply asking “basically, what are you doing?” less than a minute before the 911 call was made by a passenger in the car that Goodman had overtaken, the sheriff added.
Autopsies determined that Goodman and Meredith McClure, both 17, and Hannah Congdon, Sara Monnat and Katie Shirley, all 18, were killed on impact. More than 1,000 mourners attended each of their funerals in Fairport, an Erie Canal village of 6,000.
The victims were all cheerleaders on Fairport High's varsity team, but Shirley left the squad in her freshman year. In March, the team took first place in its category at the American Open National Cheer and Dance Championship in Orlando, Fla.
The SUV was traveling at about 60 miles an hour on the 55-mph road when it crashed shortly after 10 p.m., police estimated. Routine tests ruled out alcohol as a factor and, while toxicology tests haven't been completed, police don't suspect drug use was involved.
Goodman only had a junior driver's license, making it illegal for her to be driving late at night or to be carrying so many young passengers. While she had taken a driver's education class qualifying her for a standard license, the state Department of Motor Vehicles had received no paperwork and “does not recognize that her license was ever upgraded from junior status,” the sheriff said.
In New York, junior drivers cannot drive after 9 p.m. without a parent, guardian or someone performing parental duties unless they're going to work or school. They also cannot carry more than two passengers under 21 unless they're members of the immediate family.
AP-ES-07-13-07 1625EDT
Five days earlier, the five teenagers had graduated together from high school in Fairport, a Rochester suburb.
Goodman's inexperience at the wheel, evidence she was driving above the speed limit at night on a winding, two-lane highway and a succession of calls and text messages on her phone were cited by Sheriff Phil Povero as possible factors in the June 28 crash in western New York's Finger Lakes region.
“The records indicate her phone was in use,” Povero said. “We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. ...
“We all certainly know that cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident,” he added.
Several minutes before the first 911 call came in, Goodman talked briefly with one of four fellow graduates who were trailing her in another vehicle. Two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a male friend who lived in a nearby town, Povero said.
He sent a reply asking “basically, what are you doing?” less than a minute before the 911 call was made by a passenger in the car that Goodman had overtaken, the sheriff added.
Autopsies determined that Goodman and Meredith McClure, both 17, and Hannah Congdon, Sara Monnat and Katie Shirley, all 18, were killed on impact. More than 1,000 mourners attended each of their funerals in Fairport, an Erie Canal village of 6,000.
The victims were all cheerleaders on Fairport High's varsity team, but Shirley left the squad in her freshman year. In March, the team took first place in its category at the American Open National Cheer and Dance Championship in Orlando, Fla.
The SUV was traveling at about 60 miles an hour on the 55-mph road when it crashed shortly after 10 p.m., police estimated. Routine tests ruled out alcohol as a factor and, while toxicology tests haven't been completed, police don't suspect drug use was involved.
Goodman only had a junior driver's license, making it illegal for her to be driving late at night or to be carrying so many young passengers. While she had taken a driver's education class qualifying her for a standard license, the state Department of Motor Vehicles had received no paperwork and “does not recognize that her license was ever upgraded from junior status,” the sheriff said.
In New York, junior drivers cannot drive after 9 p.m. without a parent, guardian or someone performing parental duties unless they're going to work or school. They also cannot carry more than two passengers under 21 unless they're members of the immediate family.
AP-ES-07-13-07 1625EDT
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