On Saturday night, hundreds of parents, teachers and students gathered at Birdville High School in North Richland Hills to remember two teenagers killed in a tragic freak accident.
The students were killed and a third was critically injured when a tractor-trailer rig's dual wheels broke from the rig and crashed into the Jeep carrying the teenagers in western Oklahoma on Friday evening.
Killed were Abigail "Abbey" Key, 15, and Chance Clifton, 17, both students at Birdville High School. Driving the jeep was Colby Wade, 18, who suffered critical injuries in the accident. Colby remains at University of Oklahoma Medical Center. A fourth passenger, Caleb Wade, 17, was treated and released at a hospital in Weatherford, Okla.
On Saturday, friends of the four teenagers spoke to NBC 5 about the tragic loss. Clifton was the starting cornerback for the football team and his former teammates were devastated by the loss.
"He was a corner, I was a linebacker," said Sam Gooch. "Me and Chance, we was like brothers, like a bond between us like no other."
"He was a great kid and even if you weren’t the kind of person that smiled a whole lot, he’d make you smile no matter what," said Dra Stevenson, another former teammate. "He would put a grin on your face."
Colby Wade was also on the football team. However, what was more important to his friends to note was that he has a young son.
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"Colby, that one really got to me, because he has a kid," said Brenden Sutton, a former defensive team captain. "No kid needs to be without his dad, his father. I’m so thankful that all of our prayers are answered, he’s alive and doing better."
The parents of Colby and Caleb Wade were in a vehicle in front of the jeep that was hit by the lose tires in the accident. Friends said they watched the whole thing happen in their rear-view mirrors.
At the vigil on Saturday, several of Abigail (also known as Abbey) Key's friends spoke of a young teen who was incredibly smart and always willing to go out and do something with her friends.
"There's like no way to describe her, she's like her own person," said Kendall Simmons.
The group of girls said they'd miss her laugh the most, but here glad to see so many people out to mourn their friend.
"I have never been in a school with so much support, like everyone loves Abbey so much," Sarah Lucas said.
Investigators say the four were eastbound on I-40 when the dual tires from a westbound semi broke free and crossed into oncoming traffic where it crashed into their windshield.
The driver of the semi was not injured.
Birdville ISD released the following statement Saturday:
Birdville ISD and the Birdville High School community are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of two of our students in the accident Friday evening in Oklahoma. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families, and to the families of the two BHS students who were also injured in the accident.
