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16-year old Cal-Mum junior killed in motor vehicle accident Nineteen-year old Aaron Boop of Hillside Drive in Avon is charged with felony driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, first degree in connection with a motor vehicle accident that claimed the life of his friend and passenger in the vehicle, sixteen-year old Nicholas Zajac of North Road, Wheatland. Boop was remanded to Monroe County jail on $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.
Students and staff at Caledonia-Mumford High School where Zajac was a junior, reacted to the news of his death. Counselors met with distraught students throughout the day on Wednesday and administrators met with the staff after school. Students organized a candle light vigil at the crash scene following calling hours for Zajac on Friday, October 24. High School Principal Thomas Woodruff said Zajac had a nice, loyal group of friends at school and like most other teens, "Was full of hope and promise." "We're a small community. A tight knit school so it's a loss in the family," said Woodruff. Within days, stories surrounding the crash details began to circulate among students and friends. It was a topic of discussion on Rochester radio stations last Thursday and Friday mornings. Friends of Zajac’s say Boop, who received minor injuries in the crash, used his cell phone to call his girlfriend before calling 911 at the time of the crash. Information from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department public information office confirmed that is true. Friends believe Zajac may have lived if Boop had immediately called 911 for help. Boop was driving without a valid New York State driver’s license because of a previous DWI conviction from 2006. At the time of the crash, Caledonia Ambulance had a crew out of the area to transport 18-year old Bryan Parslow of Caledonia, to a rehabilitation hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Parslow suffered spinal cord injuries in September when he fell from a second story window while attending a party at an off campus residence in Brockport, NY. They used their second ambulance and a rig on loan from Greece Volunteer Ambulance to transport the two motor vehicle crash victims to Strong Memorial Hospital. Andy Klein, a Mumford firefighter, paramedic and president of Genesee Valley Emergency Medical Services who operates Caledonia Ambulance, said the personnel who responded to the accident chose not to undergo formal debriefing. Klein said professional debriefing and counseling services are available to EMS personnel but it is their choice to use it. "In this case, the individuals involved chose to take care of themselves," Klein said. Corporal John Helfer of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department said the crash remains under investigation.
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The accident occurred on Vallence Road in the Town of Wheatland at
about 8 p.m. Tuesday night, October 21. The teens were just seconds away
from Zajac’s home when the vehicle veered off the road and struck a
tree. Debris from the crash was strewn all over the road, witnesses say.
Mumford and Caledonia Fire Departments responded to the crash scene
where they found Zajac ejected from the vehicle. Caledonia Ambulance
crews treated and transported both victims to Strong Memorial Hospital
where Zajac was pronounced dead.
