Fiery crash kills 3 with DeSales ties
2 grads, 1 student dead, another student in critical condition
By Sunday morning, the scene had been cleared, but bits and pieces were left behind.
A giant tree in the home’s front yard was charred a dozen feet up, its base bit into like someone erratically and repeatedly hit it with an axe. Tiny fragments of glass littered the scorched lawn. A singular piece of yellow police tape fluttered on the ground, surrounded by car parts — wires, a black fuel lid and a red R/T emblem.
Leading to this spot in Upper Saucon Township were white chalk marks on the road, where investigators Saturday night must have charted the path of a Dodge Charger as it crossed Lanark Road and hit a tree at 8:37 p.m. in the 4400 block. Three people in the car — two recent DeSales University graduates and one student — were pronounced dead at the scene at 9:38 p.m. by the Lehigh County coroner’s office.
Rick Pender, of the coroner’s office, confirmed Sunday that a fourth person — a DeSales senior — was rescued from the car and transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.
DeSales University said those killed in the crash were Sean Hanczaryk, a senior sport and exercise physiology major and a baseball player; Nicholas White, a 2019 graduate; and Emily Kattner,
a 2020 graduate.
Brandon DiChiacchio, a senior sport and exercise physiology major and a baseball player, is hospitalized in critical condition, the university said.
“On behalf of the entire DeSales University community, I share our deepest condolences and prayers for the family and friends of the lives we lost,” the Rev. James Greenfield, president of DeSales, said in a statement. “We also pray for a full recovery for our student who remains hospitalized in critical condition.”
The university, in the Center Valley region of Upper Saucon Township, said it will offer counseling and campus ministry to support students during this time. The DeSales community gathered Sunday afternoon at Billera Hall
for a private prayer service.
The coroner’s office, Upper Saucon Township police and the Lehigh County district attorney’s office are investigating the crash. The coroner’s office said autopsies are scheduled for Monday.
The crash occurred on a stretch of narrow road flanked by single-family homes built in the 1940s and ‘50s as well as massive housing developments. The fiery, one-car wreck shook many neighbors, who spoke to The Morning Call on Sunday morning but didn’t wish to give their full names due to the sensitivity of the accident and because identifications hadn’t yet been made.
The car ended up in the front yard of the home of Robert, who wished to only provide his first name. Robert was home Saturday night with his stepson and mother-in-law. They had just sat down in the basement to watch a movie.
“It was just a normal night and then there was just this weird — very weird — dead silence outside, and then you hear an explosion and the house shook,” Robert said. “We thought a plane or something crashed. I know that may sound silly, but that’s just how loud and intense it was.”
Robert’s stepson ran upstairs to see what had happened.
“Bob, there’s a car on fire!” Robert remembers him yelling.
Robert immediately called 911, while his stepson went into the basement and grabbed hammers and anything else that could help break the car’s windows to try to rescue those inside. Other neighbors also rushed to the scene. One neighbor said her husband grabbed a fire extinguisher, hoping to put out the blaze.
Robert said one person was rescued from the car and dragged across the street to the shoulder. But before long, Robert said, a
small fire in the engine grew, and the blaze spread up the tree.
“It was devastating,” he said. Thinking back to the movie he was about to watch, Robert was reminded that moments like this rarely unfold like they do in film. That’s just not how things happen, even if you think you’re ready to respond.
“When it happens, you’re so confused and disoriented, you don’t know what to do,” Robert said.
Authorities have not yet commented on what led to the crash, but longtime neighbors of Lanark Road — where the posted speed limit is 40 mph — reported hearing the roar of a car flying by and then a loud bang.
“The sad part is, this road nonstop is just nothing but a racetrack,” Robert said. “It really is. Everybody, I’ve seen — young kids, older adults — they’ll fly up and down this like they’re in the Daytona 500.”
Neighbors said the accident, and what unfolded after, was difficult to witness.
Robert, when he finally got to bed in the early morning, couldn’t sleep and asked his wife — who was at work when the crash happened — to hold his hand because he kept hearing the noises of hours earlier.
He said he finally fell asleep around 4 a.m. and then was awake by 7:30 a.m., as more people stopped to see the scene and talk. Others drove slowly by.
“What I saw is something that will never leave my head,” Robert said.
As for the fragments left behind at the scene, littered beneath charred trees, neighbors said they would help him clean up what’s left — a reminder of a night they’ll never be able to forget.