SOUTH CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Counselors will be available at South Charleston High School Monday after a fiery crash Saturday claimed the lives of a student and 4 others.
School officials said Devon Easton Badger, 15, of Charleston, was on his way to the Class AAA championship football game between South Charleston and Capital when the SUV he was riding in was involved in a collision on Interstate 77 between Ripley and Ravenswood in Jackson County. Badger’s sister was already in Wheeling as a member of the SC cheerleading squad.
“Our thoughts, prayers and sincere condolences go out to the entire family,” South Charleston Principal Mike Arbogast said in a prepared statement. “The Black Eagle nation will do everything in our power to assist the family and students at South Charleston High School during this unthinkable tragedy.
State police said the victims were in a Mercury Mountaineer traveling north at about 8:30 a.m. when the driver lost control on the wet pavement, veered through the median and crashed into a GMC truck traveling south. The truck hit the victim’s vehicle broadside, causing it to burst into flames.
Police identified the victims as Badger, Vivian Easton, 46; Walter Taylor, 48; Wallace Worrell, 50; and Tahj Claiborne, 14, a student at Stonewall Jackson Middle School. All were from Charleston.
A sixth person in the Mercury, along with the driver of the GMC, were taken to CAMC with non-life threatening injuries.
The crash happened during a rain storm, leading state police to believe weather was a contributing factor. The wreck temporarily shut down Interstate 77 south and one lane of I-77 north.