Three teens killed in accident, was drinking involved?

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It was a warm, sunny spring day in Michigan yesterday and the friends were out for a ride apparently. They were driving on Gratiot Avenue in Chesterfield Township.

There was a pickup truck, a school bus and several other vehicles that were involved in the accident yesterday afternoon.

As reported in freep.com, Detective Sgt. Brad Kersten of the Chesterfield Police Department reported that the pickup truck that had four teens in it crossed into the northbound lane and hit head on into a New Haven Community Schools bus. According to police the truck was going at least 60 mph.

The bus did not have any passengers in it and the bus driver was not injured.

According to the police there were as many as six vehicles involved and that some of the occupants knew each other.

The pickup truck hit the bus so hard that the truck was almost in a V shape as if it was folding inward. The crash was so loud according to some residents that it shook their homes.
There was broken glass and twisted metal across the highway which was closed for about five hours.

The boys could only be removed by emergency equipment that was used to cut the roof of the truck back. It took about an hour and a half to get the two injured boys out. The bodies of the other two boys were removed about an hour and a half later. A tarp was used to block the view of the onlookers as the bodies were put into bags.

The two who died instantly were 17 year old Robert McGuire, and 18 year old Jordan Vandeputte. Nicholas Noble, 17, died about five hours after the crash in a hospital.

The driver of the truck, 17 year old James Lacoursiere is listed in serious condition.

Scott Richards a 21 year old is in a local hospital and listed in stable condition. He was a passenger in another car.

Bill Winifield who lives a few houses away from the crash said that he heard the crash and then saw smoke from his window.

Winifield said that he rushed to the school bus to see if there were children in it. He then looked at the truck and saw the victims in it.

He said,

"I couldn't look; it was too bad"

In a report this morning on WWJ.950 newsradio WWJ's Pat Sweeting was told by students and witnesses at the scene that the victims may have been playing a game of chicken or been involved in some type of road rage. It has also been reported that the occupants of two of the vehicles were throwing beer cans at each other while driving. Witnesses said that they could see beer cans inside the truck.