Durham high school mourns after weekend crash

The crash happened around 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Beaufort as Miles Moorman, 18, of Bahama, and three passengers were returning home to Durham after a weekend beach trip.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol said Moorman turned his Honda Accord into the path of an SUV, killing himself and passenger Brantley Pearce, 18, of Durham.

Northern High School seniors Kristen Terry and Kimberly Frey, both 17, were injured in the wreck. They were listed in good condition at Pitt Memorial Regional Hospital in Greenville Monday morning.

Moorman was a student at the Durham Performance Learning Center but had gone to Northern High before transferring, Northern High Principal John Colclough said.

"Miles, he was a very quiet young man, well liked, just a fine person and someone I know that is going to be missed here," Colclough said. "He was a friend to a lot of our students."

Colclough said there was some comfort that Terry and Fey seemed to be improving.

"They are our students here, and so they are part of our family," he said. "They are well-liked students, all the things that you would expect about them. There are a lot of students here that really care deeply about these two young ladies, and certainly the faculty does."

Colclough said the school has lost students before and that it's important that classmates be allowed the opportunities to express their emotions.

"Students are very resilient. We want them to take this time, though, to think about the gravity of what's gone on and the seriousness of the responsibility that goes with driving a motor vehicle," he said. "We want them to think of that, because this is not something we want to repeat again."

Pearce was a recent graduate from Riverside High School.

The family traveling in the SUV was also injured, state troopers said.

Christopher Yeomans, 45, his wife, Kathy, 49, daughter, Caroline, 14, and her boyfriend, Jaden Fulcher, 14, were taken to Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City.

All of them were released except for Kathy Yeomans, who had two broken legs.