Car Crash Victims

Two Leverett House residents, hospitalized last Sunday after a car crash, will be released from the hospital today, but a third remains in serious condition, the students and a hospital spokesman said yesterday.

Two of the students, Wayne L. Johnson '84 and Peter B. Strong '85, were hospitalized at Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, Mass. Johnson suffered a fractured bone in his spine from being thrown from the car as it rolled over, he said. Strong added that he tore tendons in his knee and has a broken arm.

Strong also has switches in his back and ear where he said Johnson grabbed him as the car turned a corner too quickly and began to roll.

The driver, Roland T. Heacock '84, is in serious but stable condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The only reason I didn't get brain damage was because Wayne pushed me down," said Strong, who is still in fair condition, according to hospital officials. "He grabbed me on my neck and braced himself so that I was curled up in a ball on the seat," he explained.

While the two expressed optimism about their release from the hospital, they said they were worried about Heacock's condition.

"We heard he was still in a coma, and there was some brain damage," said Strong.

The hospital, however, would not release any information other than Heacock's condition.

The accident took place on Route 27 around 1:30 a.m. Sunday in Natick. "We were on an excursion from Wellesley and were going to return there," said Johnson yesterday. "But it was dark and the driver miscalculated the curve," he added.

Strong said he was unconscious after the accident, but came to when he heard Johnson calling to him to open the door. "He said he tried to get me to open the door and said he knew we must be hurting because he was hurting, and wanted to help us out of the car," he recalled.

Natick police officials said yesterday they are "positive" that there was no alcohol involved in the accident.

"There is no doubt that it was a regular routine car accident and there are no charges of drunken driving. If there was, they would have been made by now," a Natick police spokesman said.