Bluffton teen's tragic death brings gift of life to others

Josh George died Tuesday night after his family made the difficult decision to remove the Bluffton High School student from life support.

Only George's immediate family was with him at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah. A waiting room had been filled with his friends and coaches since the two-car crash early Sunday in which George's vehicle was struck by an alleged drunken driver. George was coming home from the prom at Bluffton High School.

In their time of tragedy, the family chose to have Josh live on by helping others survive. The 17-year-old junior was kept on life support Tuesday evening while a team of surgeons assembled to remove his organs for donation.

He will be buried after a small graveside service Saturday in Huntington, W.Va. He will rest next to his father, Maj. Aaron C. George, who died nearly seven years ago when the F-16 he was piloting crashed near Edwards Air Force Base in California.

A celebration of his life will be held at 7 p.m. tonight at the Bluffton High football stadium. Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at The Church of the Cross, 110 Calhoun Street.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Joshua Aaron George Memorial Scholarship Fund at Sun Trust Bank in Bluffton.

Crisis counselors and representatives of area churches and synagogues will be available to students at the school today.

George was taken off the drugs used to keep him in a coma Tuesday afternoon, said principal Robert Anderson, who announced to students just before the end of the day that tests indicated Josh did not have "adequate brain function" to survive.

MORE SEVERE CHARGES EXPECTED

Following news of the death, Bluffton Police Chief David McAllister and Solicitor Duffie Stone announced they will meet as soon as today to discuss upgrading the charges against 20-year-old Juan Jose Olague Roman.

Roman was arrested and charged early Sunday with felony drunken driving involving a wreck resulting in great bodily injuries, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily injuries, driving without a South Carolina driver's license, operating an uninsured vehicle and disregarding a traffic signal.

Those charges likely will be elevated to felony DUI involving a wreck where death ensues and leaving the scene of an accident where death ensues, both of which carry stiffer penalties, both McAllister and Stone said.

Prosecutors also will consider a reckless homicide charge.

"We want to determine what we believe the best charges are with the best chance of conviction," McAllister said Tuesday.

SUSPECT'S IDENTITY UNCLEAR

Roman was booked in jail under the name Juan Rodriquez, the identity he gave officers when he was arrested. During a bond hearing Monday, he said that is not his real name.

It may take two weeks to determine his real identity through fingerprints and interviews with those who know him, police said.

His bond was set at $750,905.

Prosecutors may ask a judge to hold Roman without bond based on George's death and the possibility that Roman is a flight risk.

They initially thought the suspect had been charged previously with DUI in Austin, Texas. But when officials compared booking photos, it appears it is not the same man, Stone said.

Roman worked locally as a painter. His birthplace is listed as Guatemala on the jail's log. During his bond hearing, he told officials he is from Mexico.

His immigration status also is still unknown.

Detectives are investigating whether Roman, who says he is 20 years old, was drinking at a bar before the wreck.

Results of a blood sample taken to determine his blood alcohol level could be known as early as today from the State Law Enforcement Division.

DESCRIPTION OF WRECK CHANGES

While friends and family continued their vigil early Tuesday, investigators with the Bluffton Police Department, 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office and the S.C. Highway Patrol revised their description of how the wreck occurred.

The crash occurred at about 2:50 a.m. Sunday as George headed home after dropping off his girlfriend and two other friends following after-prom parties held at private residences, said Lt. Bryan Norberg of the Bluffton Police Department.

George was headed east in the slow lane of Bluffton Parkway at its intersection with Buck Island Road when Roman, traveling west on Bluffton Parkway, turned left into the side of George's pickup, Norberg said.

"This was a low-speed collision," Norberg said.

George was not wearing his seat belt and showed no signs of alcohol use, though detectives have yet to analyze blood samples drawn at the hospital.

He was ejected through a window of the Toyota pickup.

Previously, authorities said Roman was headed south on Buck Island Road when he ran the red light in his green Subaru.

The change came after investigators blocked off the intersection Tuesday to piece together the wreck and made a trip to a Bluffton impound lot where they examined both vehicles.

Roman still is at-fault because he failed to yield the right-of-way, Norberg said.

SLED investigators will be in town today to collect forensic evidence from the two vehicles.

HOW POLICE FOUND THE SUSPECT

As officers with both the Bluffton Police Department and Beaufort County Sheriff's Office rushed to the scene early Sunday morning, they quickly put out as much information as they could over the scanner.

Witnesses saw a green vehicle headed away from the scene, and a Subaru emblem was found near the point of impact, police said.

As several officers tended to George, another five or six fanned out throughout town looking for the second vehicle.

Fortunately, the vehicle left a trail of car parts in its wake.

Two sheriff's deputies -- Cpl. Laurel Albertin and Lance Cpl. Serena Nelson -- followed the trail of debris south on Buck Island Road and west on S.C. 46, said Lt. Glenn Zanelotti. When they came to a spot where the trail ended, one officer turned right, the other left.

Within a half-hour of the wreck, the pair found a green Subaru with extensive front-end damage in the driveway of a home on Freirson Circle.

Ten people were inside the house, police said. Roman was one of them. He apparently rented a room there.

If not for that quick work, detectives may not have been able to charge Roman with felony DUI because it would have been difficult to prove, Norberg said. But, because little time had elapsed, "we have a much stronger case," he said.

'A TOP-SHELF KID'

Throughout the day Tuesday, Josh's classmates at Bluffton High School slowly realized their friend wouldn't pull through.

They decorated his empty parking spot and hung posters in the halls. They began the day by holding hands in prayer around the flagpole.

After the somber announcement that Josh did not have sufficient brain activity and that the hospital was off-limits to non-family members, about 50 students and some parents walked across the street for a vigil at LowCountry Community Church.

There, they stood in silence or wept and hugged one another. Some students wrote messages on a tablecloth.

One message said: "Josh, I know you and me didn't know each other but as a BHS student I hope that God cares for you ... ."

Josh George is survived by his mother, Cheryl, who is the school nurse. His sister Jessie is a senior and he has a younger brother, Jake.

Josh was captain of the soccer team and an Advanced Placement student. He refereed youth soccer and worked part-time jobs at grocery stores and fast food restaurants.

Everybody loved him, said Anderson, the school's principal.

"Josh is a very popular kid, a positive kid, bright, articulate, athletic, a top-shelf kid," he said. "We're talking about a great kid. We're talking about a kid whose past girlfriend still likes him."

Friends described him as warm and goofy.

He used to wear "little bitty" shorts pulled up to his chest, exposing his pale legs during soccer practice, said Meredith Hamilton, another varsity soccer player.

He was a jokester who could light up the room, said chemistry lab partner and close friend David McKinley.

"He was always funny, put a smile on everyone's face," McKinley said. "I know he'll be very missed; school wont be the same."

Like any teenager, Josh also could be mischievous.

But he was responsible and helped his friends get home safely.

One of them came on the scene just after the crash.

"I saw a black truck and tons of cops," said senior Erika Aparicio.

"I thought, 'That couldn't be him.' He never took anything for granted. He was so responsible."

Some questioned why bad things can happen to good people.

"I just don't see why God would let it happen," said freshman Mike McDonnell.

Others, though, seemed to have found an answer.

"Josh, a person so kind will be rewarded. You are loved by all," a friend scrawled on the tablecloth.