2 college lacrosse players killed, 1 teammate injured in Connecticut collision
Two college men’s lacrosse players from Western Connecticut State University were killed and their teammate was seriously injured Friday afternoon in a Hartford-area car accident.
Students Jacob Champan, a business management major, and Tylor Graham, a management information sciences major, were both killed in the crash, Dr. John B. Clark, the school’s president, said Saturday in a statement on the school’s Facebook page.
Both men were 18 and from Colchester, where the collision took place, about 25 miles southeast of Hartford.
Trey Massaro, a 19-year-old justice and law administration major, from Dalton, Mass., “suffered serious injuries but is expected to recover,” according to the statement.
“We continue to mourn the loss of two of our promising young students and hope for a strong recovery for Trey,” the statement continued.
Clark on Friday evening said via the university Facebook that three students had been involved in a fatal accident, but did not release their identities until late Saturday morning.
The collision occurred when Chapman, who was driving the three, was heading westbound on Route 354 — or Parum Road — and attempted to pass another car, according to the police accident report obtained by The Associated Press.
The 2010 Nissan Altima belonging to Chapman’s family ran off the road and collided with a guardrail and trees, eventually stopping on an embankment.
The trio also lived in the same dorm at the university in Danbury, about 70 miles west of Colchester, according to a statement from Clark. Counselors, he noted, have already met with the lacrosse team and coaches and will be made available to students.
The accident remains under investigation.
With News Wire Services
