Posted on Wed, May. 07, 2008

Dunbar student one of two killed in wreck

LOST CONTROL ON "ROLLERCOASTER ROAD"

By Steve Lannen

SLANNEN@HERALD-LEADER.COM

David Perry | Staff

Hannah Landers

Sign a guest book for Hannah Landers

This school year Hannah Landers spent Saturdays working on a memorial garden to honor fellow Paul Laurence Dunbar students who had lost their lives.

The garden meant a lot to the senior, who had lost two close friends in the past two years.

Now, after a car wreck on a rural Woodford County road during a joy ride gone wrong, Dunbar has lost her, too.

The car wreck occurred about 11:30 a.m. Monday on Dry Ridge Road, a hilly stretch of up-and-down rural asphalt in Woodford County known as "Rollercoaster Road" to some young people.

A trip on the road had become something of a daily ritual for Landers and close friend Jon Dail, 18.

On Monday, Landers, 17, had a free hour between her morning classes at Dunbar and her afternoon volunteer work at a downtown Lexington day care center, Dail said Tuesday in an interview. Dail completed his graduation requirements in December.

Hannah was in the driver's seat and Dail in the passenger seat. In the back of the 2007 Suzuki Reno were Bejamin "Ben" Thompson, 22, of Wilmore and his girlfriend, Samantha DeGraaf, 19. Thompson and Dail were good friends who used to work together at the Sonic restaurant off Harrodsburg Road. It was the first time DeGraaf and Thompson went on the joyride, Dail said.

Dail couldn't recall how fast they were going. He remembered Hannah made it over three hills and around a bend.

"I trusted her with her driving and I think that's why I wasn't paying attention. I guess I got too comfortable," Dail said. " ... I guess we went too fast and lost control."

Hannah lost control on a hill crest and skidded off the right side of the road, Versailles police said. The car hit a tree and then a wire fence.

When they finally stopped rolling, Dail tried to hold Hannah's head up to make sure she could breathe. He grabbed her cell phone and called for an ambulance. He was the only one who remained conscious, he said. He received stitches but was discharged from the hospital.

Thompson was sitting behind Hannah at the time of the crash. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the Fayette County coroner's office. He died Monday at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Hannah died of her injuries Tuesday morning.

DeGraaf was listed in serious condition Tuesday night at UK hospital.

Dail called Hannah one of his best friends.

"It was one of those relationships where we were like siblings. We probably knew each other better than we knew ourselves," he said.

Hannah had earned a scholarship to Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. After graduation, she planned to join the Peace Corps and work in Kenya, Dail said.

"She had a whole lot she wanted to do with life," he said.

Dunbar officials told students at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday that Hannah had died.

"We've got to keep a balance between going on and recognizing that people don't just recover from loss after taking a bath," said Principal Anthony Orr. "It's a long process."

Orr said the school, which has about 2,100 students, is large by Kentucky standards, but that it often feels smaller.

Hannah's death is the third loss of a Dunbar student in the past two years.

Last July, students and parents planted a memorial garden at the high school to remember fallen students. A driving force behind the garden was Jesse Higginbotham, 17, who wanted to help remember Josh Shipman, 15, a sophomore who committed suicide. In April 2007 a car Jesse was riding in crashed on the way to school, and he suffered fatal injuries.

Hannah was friends with both boys, and she had taken their deaths hard, Dail said. Every Saturday that people worked on the memorial garden, she was there.

"She was really excited about how it was coming along, how it was looking," he said.

The deaths of Hannah's friends had depressed her, but just last week, she told Dail she was starting to move on, he said. "She had gotten to the point where she had accepted it and said she didn't feel like she wanted to die anymore. And then a week later ... ."

Last night, a post on Jesse's Facebook.com page read:

"Take care of Hannah for us, Jesse."