The Red and Black

One University student was killed and another is still in the Intensive Care Unit after the car they were traveling in was hit while driving to Athens.

Jacob Nyenhuis and Matthew McCormick, both freshmen from St. Simons Island, were driving in Greensboro on State Route 15 just south of Athens on Sunday night when their car was struck, killing Nyenhuis.

According to The Brunswick News, the brakes on the Honda S-2000 driven by Nyenhuis locked while approaching a stop sign shortly after 8 p.m. The car skidded into an intersection and came to a stop in the southbound lane of State Route 15.

The car was hit in the corner of the rear passenger side by a Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling south on the highway.

"It was raining pretty hard," Georgia State Patrol Trooper Thomas Bailey told The Brunswick News, noting the accident is still under investigation.

The students were on their way back to Athens from a football game at Glynn Academy, where they went to high school, said Terry Dickson, a long-time friend of the Nyenhuises.

McCormick was in the Intensive Care Unit Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for the Athens Regional Medical Center.

She said she didn't have an update on his condition but added that he was in critical condition Monday night.

There are at least three Facebook groups devoted to Nyenhuis' memory and McCormick's recovery, including "Jacob 'J-Dawg' Nyenhuis," which had more than 300 members Tuesday night.

"It's really hard not to have him," said freshman Rachel Friedman, who went to Glynn Academy with the two.

Nyenhuis' death is the second of a University student this semester.

Reggie Bostick was struck and killed by a Ford-350 in August while vacationing in Mexico Beach, Fla.

Article Tools