Teen Driver Killed in Overnight Crash

Three teenagers on the way to the store in Winchester never made it. Police say the 17-year-old driver lost control of the van overnight and died. Two other teens inside were badly hurt. Police say they are investigating whether the teens were drinking.

The Chevy van flipped over landing on its side in the middle of the road, killing the driver James Gleeson. Two passengers survived, and one of them was 18-year-old Derick Massey, Jr. His father says his son is hanging on in critical condition with a skull fracture and arm injury. He hasn't been able to speak with his son, who remains unconscious.

"They have him sedated because of the ventilator, so he has a tube, so they have him heavily sedated, so he's not going to be able to say too much to anybody right now," Derick Massey, Jr. said from his home.

He planned to visit his son in the hospital later in the day. Massey, Sr. says he expected his son to be removed from the ventilator tomorrow and taken out of critical care.

"He will survive," Massey, Sr. said.

The other survivor, 17-year-old Nico Mason, is out of the hospital. Mason pulled the other two boys out, his mother told FOX 5, but she says he knew one of his friends was no longer alive.

In the daylight, the tire marks on Valley Mill Road and Channing Drive are visible where the van ran off the road. Virginia State Police say Gleeson overcorrected and lost control and alcohol may have been a factor.

Derick Massey, Jr.'s father says he doesn't know if anyone was drinking. He's just worried about his son right now. If there was alcohol involved, he said, maybe this deadly accident will be "a wake-up call," said Massey, Sr.

"You know sometimes it takes this to straighten things like that out. You know as far as underage drinking if that was the case," he added.

Massey says his son passed a breathalyzer test, but he can't speak for the others. Family members of the two survivors say the boys were hanging out at Gleeson's house and were on the way to the store when the accident happened around midnight. Police say they were not wearing seatbelts.

Under Virginia law, drivers under 18 are not allowed on the road after midnight. There are exceptions for emergencies, work or school activities, when with a parent or responding as a volunteer firefighter or on a rescue squad. A trip to the store is not one of them.

The three boys were childhood friends. Massey's father said his son's friend James Gleeson, who died, took care of his mother and the other kids in the family. He described him as a "good kid."