Accident Reconstruction Network > News >September 2008

Accident Reconstruction News Article

Device may pinpoint cause of crash that killed Hamiltonians

Police are retrieving information from a device similar to an aircraft black box in an effort to determine the cause of an accident that claimed the life of two Hamilton residents and caused serious injuries to a third person.

Known as an event data recorder (EDR), the small on-board computer is standard equipment in most late-model vehicles and records information moments before and after a collision, such as engine and vehicle speed, whether the brakes were used and the position of the gas pedal.

Kevin Blake Booker, 22, and Stephanie Sukkel, 20, were both killed at about 4 p.m. last Friday when the Ford Taurus in which they were passengers collided with a 2005 Ford pickup in Essa Township near Alliston.

A 20-year-old woman, who was driving the car, was injured in the crash and remains in serious but stable condition at a Toronto hospital.

Police have not identified her, but said she was a friend of the two victims.

Sergeant Tim Melanson, of the Nottawasaga OPP detachment, said the Taurus was travelling north on 8th Line when it and the pickup collided at the intersection of No. 5 Side Road off Highway 89.

The driver of the pickup was not injured in what Melanson described as a "T-bone collision."

Melanson said alcohol was not a factor in the crash and OPP accident reconstruction technicians will be downloading information from at least one vehicle's black box to help determine what happened and whether charges are justified.

He said the Ford pickup probably had an EDR, but he wasn't sure whether the car had one because it was a 2000 model.

The device was originally installed to control the deployment of air bags. But in recent years, it has been used by police as an investigative tool.

Meanwhile, a funeral service was held in Fisherville yesterday for Booker, who attended Mohawk College and was working as an apprentice millwright at Dofasco.

He grew up in Fisherville and attended Cayuga secondary school before graduating four years ago.

Shilo Davis, 22, a high school friend, said she remembers Booker as a "great guy" who was easy to talk to and who helped her with her high school chemistry.

Davis said Sukkel also attended the Cayuga high school and was enrolled in a two-year business program at Mohawk.

"She was going to Mohawk. She loved it. She was doing great," she said.

The Sukkel family, who live in Caledonia, hadn't revealed their daughter's funeral arrangements as of yesterday and a family spokesperson said they weren't yet ready to discuss the tragedy.

Davis has started a memorial site on Facebook for Sukkel and Booker and plans to hold an open house in their honour at her Hamilton home on the weekend.

"I would like to do something for their friends from high school, but anybody is welcome," she said.

As far as Melanson knew, they were planning to attend a social gathering with friends in Tottenham.