Two New Jersey high students were killed in a car crash off an upstate New York highway, according to police and school officials.
The deadly crash occurred just before 10 p.m. Friday in the Otsego County town of Butternuts, state police said. A preliminary investigation found that 17-year-old Christian Enrico and 16-year-old Liam Pakonis were driving north of state Route 8 in Guilford when a Chenango County sheriff's deputy tried to pull them over.
However, the driver, Enrico, did not pull over. Instead, state police said that the vehicle flew off the roadway and crashed into several trees. A local town supervisor told NBC New York that the highway bears to the left, but Enrico and Pakonis went straight. The car went airborne and clipped trees 12 feet in the air, the town official said.
Both Enrico and Pakonis were pronounced dead at the scene. The Office of the New York State Attorney General responded to the scene and is handling the investigation.
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It was not immediately clear what the teenagers were doing in the town 120 miles north of Wayne, New Jersey, where the pair were from.
In a statement, the district superintendent said that the two juniors at Wayne Hills High School were "cherished members of their school community and will be greatly missed by all."
The district said it is providing assistance and support to those impacted by the crash, and is offering counseling services for all students and staff this week. The district is off for spring break this week, said Superintendent Mark Toback.
