CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - The DeSales University community is grieving the loss of three of its own. Two graduates and one student died March 6 in Upper Saucon Township in what the university calls a “devastating car accident.”
One student survived the crash but was in stable but very serious condition on March 8.
Emily Kattner and Nicholas White were both recent graduates of DeSales. Both died in Saturday’s crash, as did senior Sean Hanczaryk.
Lehigh County Coroner Eric D. Minnich ruled the cause of death for all three was multiple blunt force injuries. He ruled the manner of death as accidental. White was the driver of the car.
The Rev. James J. Greenfield OSFS, the University’s president, was at the hospital with Hanczaryk’s family when they learned Sean had passed.
“There's not a word in the dictionary to describe the grief and horror that was on the faces as the death of Sean was registered,” Greenfield says.
Brandon DiChiacchio, a senior, survived the crash and is currently hospitalized, Greenfield says.
All three men were current or former DeSales baseball players.
“I gathered with all the players, and a lot of the alums, at the baseball stadium yesterday to just be together and support one another as really brothers,” he says.
The school is planning to hold a candlelight vigil at the baseball stadium the evening of March 10, Greenfield says.
The deaths are currently being investigated by the Upper Saucon Township Police Departmentand the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office.