Mourners honor teen who died after LIRR accident
BY KENNY PORPORA
lidesk@newsday.com
8:56 PM EST, November 9, 2007
A Floral Park teenager who died Friday morning after being struck by a train was remembered by friends and teachers as "charismatic, kind and always willing to give compliments."
At the corner of Tulip and Plainfield avenues in Floral Park -- a spot known as "the square" -- about 50 classmates of Phelim Lynch gathered Friday night for a vigil. Candles flickered around photos of the high school senior while tears and strains from acoustic guitars played by friends punctuated the air.
Lynch, 16, was walking on the railroad tracks with a 17-year-old friend late Thursday night when he was hit by a westbound Long Island Rail Road train just west of the Floral Park station, police said.
He was taken to Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola following the 10:45 p.m. accident, police said, and died at 6:08 a.m. Friday. His friend, who was not identified, was uninjured.
"I didn't believe it when I first heard because Phelim was always joking around," said Vinny Tetro, 15, a close friend and classmate of Lynch for the past 21/2 years. "But I was just devastated. It's amazing how fast death can happen."
Tetro, along with his friends Robby Skahill and Tom Power, both 14, spoke of Lynch while skateboarding around the Floral Park train station where, according to Skahill, walking along the tracks and hanging out near the site where the accident occured is not uncommon for youths.
Lynch attended Floral Park Memorial High School and was set to graduate in May.
Principal Kathleen Sottile said the school and community were "very saddened" by Lynch's death. Sottile said she first heard about the accident on the radio while driving to work. She was later contacted by police and Lynch's family, both of whom confirmed his death, she added.
Friday morning, faculty members remembered Lynch.
Adam Glatzer, Lynch's guidance counselor, described him as "fun-loving and giving, with a grade-A sense of humor."
Also Friday, students gathered at the Lynch's home to pay their respects.
"Everybody knew him," said Michelle Russo, 15, as she left the Lynches' home. Russo, who is the best friend of Lynch's sister Margaret, 15, was one of dozens of friends who stopped by the house in Floral Park. "He was such a funny kid. I think it's so sad."
The school has arranged for students in need of counseling to meet with bereavement specialists.
Lynch spent his entire life in the Floral Park education system, starting in Floral Park/Bellrose elementary. He had been a student at the high school since the 7th grade.
Members of Lynch's family were not immediately available for comment Friday. Sottile said she had spoken with family members, but she declined to comment on the conversations.
A statement from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police said the train engineer sounded his horn and applied emergency brakes but was unable to avoid striking Lynch. No one on the train was hurt, police said.
It was unclear which train struck Lynch or why he was walking on the train tracks.
Staff writer John Valenti contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.
"Everybody knew him." I knew him. He was my friend. I was just out at Starbucks with him on Tuesday. I think that deep down inside Phelim was a good kid. He made some mistakes in life but he was trying to get better. He started going to support group meetings for his drug addictions, he was trying to quit smoking but drinking? Drinking was something he always did. The night he died he was at a party, drinking. Nobody knows exactly why he was on the tracks..my guess would be because he was drunk.
Please join me in prayer. Pray for his family, and his friends, and the school. Pray that this will be a wake up call to all his friends and to the town that drinking is not "Cool." Pray for me please. That I will be a witness to the students. That I can comfort them but use this as a way to talk to people about their faith and about the choices that they make. Pray that I can be a light in this darkness.
Thanks
