Three Sandite Teens Killed in Tragic Car Accident

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Sand Springs is a town that’s known a tragedy or two over the years, and far too often those tragedies have been felt the hardest by the teenage community.

In 2010, Charles Page High School lost sophomores Cassidy Rotramel and Hannah Christian in a car accident. 

Star running back Richard DeHart was killed in a single-car accident in 2013, just a month after graduating. 

More recently, Clarissa Kaser and Crystal “Grey” Kaser were murdered in February of 2021. Clarissa had just graduated the year before, and Crystal was a freshman in the district.

Now the close-knit community will gather together to mourn yet another tragedy as three teens have been killed and two more injured in a single-car collision Thursday afternoon.

“We didn’t practice today or do our walkthrough just because it was so recent,” said head football coach Bobby Klinck, whose team is preparing to host Ponca City in its home opener Friday.

“We just had a team meeting and I just kind of wanted to get their pulse on everything.”

“We just basically wanted to let them know that we love them and that’s why we’re hard on them, because things can happen and we want them to stay safe,” said Klinck.

The visiting Wildcats are currently recovering from their own tragedy, as player Geronimo Quilimaco Jr. was involved in an accident Monday night and had to be airlifted to an Oklahoma City hospital. 

He has undergone multiple surgeries this week but is currently in stable condition and expected to recover.

It doesn’t appear that any of the students involved in the Sand Springs accident were connected to the football program.

The Sandite football team still met for their pre-game dinner Thursday night at Olivet Baptist Church, though parents and youth pastors were also invited to support the players.

“We thought it was important to kind of keep things somewhat normal and it’s never a bad thing to be at church when something like this happens,” said Klinck.

“I think for the most part the kids are okay. There were a couple of guys who were upset and we just wanted to let them know that if they needed to talk or need anything that we’re always here.”

“That’s the main thing that we wanted to get across at both the team meeting and team dinner. Just to make sure that mentally they’re okay.”