The Iliopoulos’ family SUV after a crash that killed three teens. (WABC)
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A car carrying a Staten Island family returning from a day at Atlantic City struck a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway early yesterday and overturned — killing two brothers and their friend and critically injuring four others.
The dead were Elias Iliopoulos, 18, his brother Chrystoph, 13, and their friend Eric Colligan, 15, who lives on the same Grant City block. The three were ejected from the SUV.
Elias and Chrystoph’s mother, Stavroula, 51, and sister, Fotiny, 20, also were thrown from the car, but survived.
Stavroula’s husband, Dimitrios, 54, who was driving, and Fotiny’s boyfriend, Vincent Whiteaker, 25, remained inside the vehicle after it flipped over at least twice shortly after 5 a.m. in Middletown near Exit 112, cops said.
The four surviving passengers were rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune in critical condition.
Stunned neighbors of the Iliopoulos family said Elias had just graduated from Fort Hamilton HS and was set to study at Apex Technical School to become a mechanic.
“He was a helping kid, always helping my brother shovel snow, raking the leaves, whatever needed to be done,” said Steve Callan.
He said Chrystoph was “joined at the hip” to his mother, Stavroula, whom everyone calls Stella.
“I’ve never seen a woman work harder than Stella,” Callan said. “When my mother-in-law got sick, she always made sure she got over there to bring soup.”
Colligan’s devastated relatives remembered the teen as a gifted athlete with an easygoing personality as they spoke in their home, which was filled with his trophies.
“He was always at practice after school,” said his uncle, Brian, who added that Colligan was a pitcher on the varsity squad at Curtis HS and also played football and basketball, and could bowl over 200.
“They were going to walk the boardwalk and they were going to come home,” Brian said.
“Now he’s never coming home.”
Whiteaker’s neighbors said he and Fotiny are engaged.
Police told the Asbury Park Press that another vehicle that passed the SUV at high speeds may have startled the father, who was driving, and caused him to lose control. Police say that car was a black or dark-colored BMW or Mercedes-Benz.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
With AP