A dangerous street race down Central Avenue resulted in a crash outside of Encinal High School on Tuesday August 15th. The accident, which occurred during lunch, involved five cars in total, three of which were parked.

No parties involved were harmed, however an anonymous witness told Horizon staff three Encinal students fled from one of the racing cars. Driver and passenger identities cannot be disclosed due to the ongoing investigation.

Encinal principal Kirstin Snyder shared her concerns for the student body, specifically student drivers.

“I want to advise all of our EHS drivers that lunch time driving needs to be treated very seriously. I know you have a limited amount of time, but it’s better to drive carefully and slow down and get that late slip; than it is to get in an accident because you were rushing and being careless,” said Snyder.

The aforementioned student eyewitness confirmed the accident involved a Tesla, Infiniti G35, sedan, and Mercedes Benz. As the Mercedes and Infiniti raced down Central, one car lost control and crashed into a parked Tesla, which was pushed into another car parked on the street.

The sound of the accident drew the attention of many Encinal students and staff, many of whom were near Third street during the accident.

“When I saw the car I was just shocked. I saw the two cars smashed together and also crashed into another car so it was a lot of hectic stuff. There were a lot of police around and ambulances and everything was closed off and there were a million people,” said another anonymous witness.

Senior Ruby Ruport ran to check on the owner of the Tesla car, which incurred the most damage.

“We were mainly talking about the logistics of it,” said Ruport. “Everything about how the other car didn’t have insurance and how it was going to cost my family a lot of money. We were really grateful that nobody got seriously hurt and how we were so lucky that my mom wasn’t in the car.“

Principal Snyder plans on addressing the incident with the student body and using it as a reminder that car accidents are fairly common and practicing and abiding by the law shouldn’t be taken lightly. She wants students to relate to this information on a personal level to grasp a full understanding on the dangers of driving.

“Vehicles unfortunately can be dangerous and very convenient, but you have to be responsible if you’re going to drive to school. We all know this intersection here at Third, Central, and Taylor can be tricky,” said Snyder. “I want to remind everyone that you’re not permitted to drive unless you have a license, insurance, and your car is registered. Those three things are necessary to be behind a vehicle.”

In addition to notifying families via ParentSquare, Snyder confirmed a message about the accident would be pushed to Seniors and Juniors via StudentSquare.