Early on Sunday morning in Florida, a high school quarterback was slain while attempting to assist a motorist who was stranded on the side of the road, according to investigators.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 18-year-old Nick Miner stopped his pickup truck on the side of Dallas Boulevard in Orlando to help another trapped driver.
In an effort to assist, Miner’s truck was struck by another vehicle and flipped over. The teen was thrown from the car and passed away there and then.
Miner was a senior at East River High School.
East River High School’s Principal Becky Watson confirmed the tragic death in a Facebook post.
“I know I speak for our entire East River High community when I express the grief felt at the loss of one of our own,” Watson wrote.
In the statement, Watson said grief counselors will be available for students and staff beginning Monday.
Former classmates of Miner recalled him as a superb football player and friend. At the crash scene on Sunday, loved ones erected a memorial, with many of them leaving words of “I love you” and “I miss you.”
“We’re working as hard as we can. It aches. He was the family’s brother. Parker Stoner, Miner’s teammate on the football team, told FOX 35, “I wish he was still here.
A leader on the field and “always the class clown,” as Stoner put it, was his pal.
“He never gave up, always gave his all. Always made sure we were going 110 percent all the time,” he added.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 27-year-old driver of a white Honda Insight headed north “failed to observe” Miner’s white pickup truck stopped in the road. Miner had attempted to pull the stopped car on the side of the road back onto the street when the crash took place.
As Miner’s pickup truck flipped over, it also struck a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old woman who were standing outside the other automobile on the side of the road. With no immediate danger to their lives, they were transferred to the hospital.
The driver who caused the collision is facing charges.
