Richmond police said today that the two Berkeley teenagers who were killed in an automobile accident last week were driving at speeds of 100 miles per hour right before the crash.
Witnesses reported that the car “was driving erratically, weaving in and out of traffic,” said Richmond Police Sgt. Bisa French. The car got up to 100 miles a hour but had just come around a curve so it was probably going around 60 mph when the accident happened, she said. The speed limit on the Richmond Parkway is 50 mph, said French.
Kyle Strang, 16, and Prentice Gray, 19, were both killed instantly in the March 31 accident when Strang’s black 1992 Twin Turbo Dodge Stealth went out control, crossed over a concrete divider, and smashed into the wheels of a school bus. The bus driver was uninjured.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow for Gray, at 11 am at the Fouche Hudson funeral home at 3665 Telegraph Avenue in North Oakland. Burial will follow.
Strang was buried on Sunday.
The two youths were good friends who lived across the street from one another in Berkeley. Both had attended Berkeley High. Gray, whose nickname was PJ, had attended CPA, the Community Partnership Academy, and had graduated in 2009. At the time of his death he was volunteering for a group that provided organic vegetables to under served areas. Strang was a junior in the CAS program. (Communications, Art, and Science)
The Berkeley High Jacket, the school newspaper, is planning to commemorate the boys’ lives in its next issue and is asking for people to submit poems, writing, or pictures that relate to their deaths. (Send to jakewinkelman40@yahoo.com) A Facebook page, RIP Kyle Strang and Prentice Gray, now has 919 members.
Strang’s father, Craig, the associate director of Lawrence Hall of Science, spoke at the funeral about his son’s love for that car. A friend posted the memorial on a new blog dedicated to Strang. Here is an excerpt:
“Many of you know the story of how we got to this moment. Kyle saved up his own money and fulfilled his dream by buying himself a black 1992 Twin Turbo Dodge Stealth when he turned 16. He bought it the day after Thanksgiving, and wanted PJ to be the first person to ride in it. When we got home, Kyle told me that that day was the best day of his life. He had a couple of fender bender accidents, and he and I spent the last two weekends together rummaging through junkyards, searching for replacement parts. Last Saturday, Kyle brought his good luck charm—Hannah—along on what was, she assured me, her first trip to a junkyard. We had a blast, got covered in grease together and ate terrible burritos together from the taco truck. And we found the fender we needed. On Wednesday, Kyle and PJ were headed to a body shop in Richmond to get an estimate for installing the parts, and Kyle somehow lost control of that black 1992 Twin Turbo Dodge Stealth.”
The Strang family asks that donations be made to Berkeley High’s CAS program. Checks can be mailed to Berkeley High School Development Group, Kyle Harty Strang Memorial Fund, and sent to Strang Memorial Fund, 828 Ashbury Street, SF 94117.
For the Gray family, contributions and flowers can be delivered to the funeral home and marked to the attention of Irma Gray.
