Students Face Second Tragedy -- Mount Si Senior Dies In Car Accident

Extra counselors were on call today at Mount Si High School, helping students deal with the death of a second classmate in as many weeks - this time a senior wrestling and football star.

David Szczepanik, 18, lost control of his car on North Bend Way early Saturday and slammed into a tree, two weeks after freshman Dane Rempfer was killed by a hit-and-run driver on another North Bend road about two miles away.

"We're kind of reeling . . . ," said Thomas Tilton, one of the Snoqualmie school's three counselors. Between friends of Rempfer, a well-liked baseball and soccer player, and Szczepanik's friends and teammates, "the entire student body will have been touched with a tragedy this month, one way or another," he said.

After spending Friday night with friends, Szczepanik was driving alone near the intersection of 394th Place Southeast. He may have been speeding when his car spun sideways across oncoming lanes and into a large tree.

Alcohol was not a factor, according to the King County Sheriff's Office.

Szczepanik suffered severe head injuries and died several hours later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Substitute teachers at the school of 1,100 were scheduled today to take over classes taught by several coaches, who were to meet with the 18-year-old's friends and teammates.

"It's important that they feel safe about being emotional and letting their feelings be known," said Charlie Kinnune, head football coach and U.S. history teacher. "Our society tells boys that they can't be emotional."

He described Szczepanik as hard-working, confident and popular. "Good-looking - girls loved him," Kinnune said. "He wasn't cocky and obnoxious, just a really nice kid."

Rempfer's friends and family describe him much the same way. A King County chaplain met a group of his friends last week, and students continue to visit the school's three counselors every day to talk about the enthusiastic 15-year-old, who was killed instantly when struck by a car around midnight on Nov. 7.

Michael Rhynalds, 27, of North Bend, was charged earlier this month with felony hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license in Rempfer's accident. King County prosecutors say they may file stiffer charges.

Like Rempfer, Szczepanik was a gifted athlete, earning first-team all-conference honors at cornerback in the KingCo AAA football conference this season, and placing seventh in his weight class at the state wrestling championships as a junior.

Szczepanik was small - wrestling at 129 pounds - but disciplined in his workout regimen, Kinnune said.

Szczepanik's parents left communist Poland in the late 1970s, Kinnune said, and took great pride in the accomplishments of their only child, who spoke Polish at home.

"He was really kind of an American dream," he said. "He understood what opportunity meant."