School of Block Island crash victim reacts to losing one of their own

Police have identified the victim in a car crash on Block Island as 16-year-old Jackson Panus of Southport Connecticut.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Police have identified the victim in a car crash on Block Island as 16-year-old Jackson Panus of Southport Connecticut.

Panus was slated to enter his junior year at Fairfield Ludlowe High School in the fall.
Now, they’ll be offering grief counseling for their students.

Panus’s head master Greg Hatzis remembered him Monday as a great student and athlete.

“Jake was a really good kid,” said Hatzis. “He played football and he played lacrosse. Obviously those two communities are devastated.”

According to police, Panus was killed in a car crash Sunday afternoon on Block Island when the car he was in hit a pole.

Another passenger had to be flown to Rhode Island hospital after being seriously hurt.

“Our hearts ache for these families that are involved,” said Hatzis. “This is obviously something that no parent or any family member would ever want to deal with.”

According to Hatzis, in addition to being an athlete, Panus was also very interested in the ocean, and spent part of his school day at the Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture School.

“Lots of hands on activities,” said Hatzis. “That’s something that I think Jake gravitated to.”

A classmate we were able to get in contact with described Panus as goofy and funny, and said class will surely be dull without him.

“Whenever you work with teenagers, anytime a loss happens, it’s for many kids really the first person in their lives potentially that they experience that kind of loss,” said Hatzis. “It’s really just a raw emotional thing at this point and I imagine will be for a little while.”

The driver of the vehicle, an underage girl, is being held at the Rhode Island training school, charged with driving under the influence. She will be seen in family court Tuesday.