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Editor’s Note: Due to incorrect information provided to the Times-Union, a story in Monday’s edition listed the wrong age for the boy who died in the Nov. 17 off-road vehicle accident. He was 15, not 16.
A teenager involved in an off-road vehicle accident Nov. 17 near Mentone has died, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
An unnamed 15-year-old boy from Fort Wayne – one of two involved in the accident – died at 10:10 p.m. Monday.
Conservation officer Matthew Maher said that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will no longer release the names of juveniles even if there’s a death. State laws does not prohibit the release of minors names’ in any situation, but gives law enforcement and other agencies discretion on whether to release the names.
A GoFundMe account was set up for funeral expenses for Drake Goetz, 15, who attends Canterbury School, in Fort Wayne. The account says Goetz was in “a serious accident” the night of Nov. 17 and died Monday.
The news release from the DNR was issued Wednesday afternoon and listed the cause of death as a drowning.
An accident occurred at about 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at 6005 Shilling Road, Mentone, at the home of Cary Groninger, the Kosciusko County middle district commissioner.
The boys involved in the accident were attending a birthday party for Groninger’s son.
The boy who was killed was a passenger on the off-road vehicle driven by another 15-year-old boy, also of Fort Wayne.
The driver lost control of the vehicle near an embankment, and the vehicle rolled over and into a pond where it submerged. Both teenagers were ejected from the ORV and landed in the pond.
The driver was able to swim to safety. The passenger went underwater.
Groninger, who was home at the time, was notified of the accident and was able to pull the passenger from the water.
The driver – also not identified by authorities – was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital and released Friday night.
The passenger was flown to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, where he later died.
