The two 17-year-old boys who were involved in a four-wheeler crash on Saturday night in Warriors Mark Township were not wearing helmets while riding the vehicle, according to Huntingdon State Police.
Tylor Joseph “Jake” Reese of Warriors Mark died in the crash and an unidentified teen was seriously injured.
The crash happened sometime after 10:30 p.m., according to Trooper Bradley Stauffer. He said the accident may have occurred as late as 11:30 p.m.
Reese was riding a Yamaha ATV with the other boy.
The Daily Herald’s sister newspaper, The Huntingdon Daily News, reported yesterday the unidentified teen is from somewhere near Tyrone. State police did not release the names of either the deceased or injured teen because they were juveniles.
On Monday, Tyrone Area High School Principal Rebecca Erb confirmed Reese was the teen who died in the tragedy and that she had told students at the school about the incident. According to information in his obituary, Reese had attended school in the district.
Trooper Stauffer told The Daily Herald he attended an autopsy for the dead teenager earlier this week. He said the accident was being investigated as a non-traffic accidental death. The accident occurred on private property leading to Spring Ridge Estates, about a half-a-mile off of Reese Road, near where Reese’s home was located.
Stauffer said if the accident had occurred on a public road it would have been treated as a traffic related death. The designation is simply a procedural one which the state police use as to where an incident is filed in their system.
The Daily News reported friends found the two victims sometime on Sunday morning after the teens did not return to the camper trailer where they were staying along the private road. Stauffer said the victims were likely discovered sometime after 8:30 a.m. He said a call came in about the incident at about 8:50 a.m. on Sunday.
According to information in the Daily News article, the ATV hit some trees.
The injured teen was taken to the trailer and his friends called for help. According to the police press release on the incident, the injured teen was flown to Altoona Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Huntingdon County Coroner Ron Morder pronounced Reese dead at the scene at 10:20 a.m. On Monday, he told The Daily Herald that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Stauffer said there was only one ATV involved in the crash and police are still working on determining ownership of the ATV. Stauffer said he had not been able to interview the injured teen as of yesterday afternoon.
Visitation for Reese is scheduled today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Derman Funeral Home, Inc., Tyrone. Services will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. at the funeral home with interment at the Bald Eagle Cemetery.
Contributions in Reese’s memory may be given to the Joshua House, P.O. Box 27, Tyrone, PA 16686.
(Editors note: This article was augmented with text and information which appeared in a Huntingdon Daily News article by Polly McMullin on April 12.)
