February 23, 2016 was the 20th anniversary of an accident in West Boca Raton, Florida that killed five teenagers. A memorial took place at 5:15 p.m. on February 23. The purpose of the memorial was to honor the five teens who lost their lives in the accident. The service took place on Palmetto Road, which is the same place that the accident occurred.
The five teenagers were in a Honda Civic. The driver of the car was going over 90 MPH, lost control of the car and hit another car. Two more teens were seriously injured in the accident. The crash changed the family members of the teens’ lives forever. The driver of the crash was charged with reckless driving and served 13 years in prison.
Although the accident was 20 years ago, the families are still struggling to come to terms with it. Emily Slosberg, who is 34 years-old, was one of the teens who survived the accident. She stated that the accident shattered her life, and nothing has been the same since.
On the night of the accident, seven friends climbed into the car with two people that they met at the bowling alley. The teens did not know the people they were getting into the car with before the night of the accident. Ryan Rashidian, Crystal Gordes, Carolina Gil-Rollego, Margaux Schehr and Doris Slosberg were the teens who were killed in the accident.
Emily Slosberg suffered a broken leg and pelvis. She also broke a few of her ribs and punctured a lung. Maribel Farinas survived the accident, but she is paralyzed. There were three people in the other car who were injured, but they survived.
Nineteen year-old David Copertino was the driver who caused the accident. His case went to trial in 1997. His attorneys tried to argue that road debris was what caused the accident. However, a jury convicted him of reckless driving. He started serving his prison sentence in 1999 and was released the following year.
David went back to jail in 2002. He was released from jail in April 2013. He got married three months after he was released from jail. David was asked to comment about the 20th anniversary of the crash, but he declined to comment.