NANTY GLO - A Wednesday morning crash claimed the life of a Central Cambria High School senior and left another teen in the hospital.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the crash on the 2000 block of Cardiff Road near Allie Buck Road in Blacklick Township about 7:30 a.m., Cambria County 911 officials said.
The driver of the 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, Derek Thomas Brothers, 17, of Blacklick Township was killed in the crash, Cambria County Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski said.
The vehicle struck an embankment and rolled over, and Brothers was ejected from the vehicle, police said.
Brothers was pinned underneath the vehicle and was pronounced dead at 8 a.m at the scene, Kwiatkowski said.
Brothers and his passenger, Tyler Gerber, 19, Ebensburg, were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash, Kwiatkowski said.
State police at Ebensburg are handling the investigation with the aid of a crash reconstruction from the Indiana barracks, officials said.
The immediate cause of death was not identified, and an autopsy is scheduled for today, he said.
Gerber, who police said was entrapped in the vehicle, was transported to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, with a broken pelvis and other injuries.
Central Cambria students were informed during classes on Wednesday about the crash, high school Principal Kim McDermott said.
"We were notified first thing this morning that one of our students, a senior, had been killed in a vehicle accident on the way to school," McDermott said.
Grief counselors were made available for students Wednesday and will be available for the next several days, she said.
Brothers had previously attended Blacklick Valley, Bishop Carroll Catholic and Central Cambria schools. He was returning to Central Cambria for the semester and planned to play football, McDermott said.
"It certainly is a tragic loss," McDermott said.
Mirror Staff Writer Zach Geiger is at 946-7535.
