DEARBORN, Mich. – A 98-year-old Dearborn man was involved in a head-on crash in South Florida that left two teenage girls dead, police said.
Walter Roney was driving a recreational vehicle when he crossed the median and slammed into oncoming traffic, officials said.
Two girls, ages 16 and 17, were killed just minutes from their homes while driving to go skating. They were riding in a pickup truck when Roney's RV crashed into them head-on, police said.
Friends and family members gathered at a makeshift memorial along the highway near Fort Pierce.
"Every time you walked in a room with them, they were smiling and they would make you laugh and they were so good," friend Savannah Yarborough said. "They loved everyone and everyone loved them, as you can see."
The Florida Highway Patrol said Roney owns an RV park in Melbourne Beach and was driving with his 75-year-old girlfriend at the time of the crash. But while they were driving, they ended up going west in the eastbound lane of State Road 70.
Roney is in critical condition and cannot speak, medical officials said. His girlfriend told officials that the lights on the RV weren't working.
"They were having electrical issues with the RV itself, and the inside interior lights were not working at the time," Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Ray Stuhr said. "We believe the headlights were not functional at the time of the crash, as well. They were on the way to Port Charlotte to have that issue addressed."
The couple had been driving previously on I-95, and the Florida Highway Patrol said Roney had been recently cleared in Michigan to drive.
"He had a series of tests -- written and physical driving -- and he passed all of those exams," Stuhr said.
Officials said Roney isn't facing any criminal charges. He has serious internal injuries and is intubated to help him breathe.
Police said Roney uses reading glasses, but didn't need glasses to drive.