Phila. man, 19, killed when car strikes highway barrier

LOWER MERION -A Philadelphia man was killed yesterday when his car flipped several times after striking the center barrier on the Schuylkill Expressway.

Christian Jones, 19, lost control of his 1986 Toyota Celica minutes after midnight, police said. The car crashed into the barrier and flipped over repeatedly before coming to rest upside down.

Jones was pronounced dead at the scene, and his passenger, John J. Craighead, 19, also of Philadelphia, was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The crash was still under investigation last night.

(c) 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

I never do real names but I felt I should make an exception today. I went to high school with both of the guys in this accident. I had classes with Christian junior and senior year. We studied and for and failed our physics tests together. He was crazy in this way that made me admire him. I want the guts to be able to run across the auditorium in the middle of the largest assembly of the year wearing nothing but my underwear and I wanted the balls to be able to tell him I liked him. He was that guy, that guy you like in high school and think about when you're lonely in college. After he died I was flooded with all these thoughts of how I wished or assumed I'd be able to see him in ten years and find out what he's been up to and how he's changed and that can't happen. It's strange and it hurts but in a way that causes me to not feel anything. When I think about this all my emotions become quiet within me and I'm not able to dial phone numbers properly and I just knew him from school. I can't imagine what his family is going through or what Jack is going through.

19 is far too young an age to die.

I'll miss you Chris.