OAKLAND, Maine — Investigators are learning more about the hayride crash that killed 17-year-old Cassidy Charette and say it looks like a mechanical problem caused the Jeep to crash.
The Jeep was towing a wagon full of passengers behind it.
The state fire marshal’s office says the weight carried by the Jeep will be an important factor in their investigation and a full inspection should be done by the end of the week.
Maine has no laws regulating hayrides.
Messalonskee High School students were back in class Tuesday for the first time since the tragic accident. The girls soccer team played for the first time without Charette.
There were tears and hugs as the Eagles took the field. Coach Penny Stansfield said before the game that it wasn’t about winning or losing, it was about playing for Charette.
“I still can’t believe she’s gone, that I won’t see her again or have the honor of coaching her,” Stansfield said.
Stansfield says some of the 25 players called Cassidy a best friend. They took the field hand in hand, wearing shirts with her name and number, in her favorite color, blue.
“She just had a great personality, really warming,” teammate Taylor Lenentine said.
The school’s other athletic teams and spectators lined the field for a moment of silence, and Bangor players gave each girl on the team a flower and a hug to express condolences.
Cassidy was the starting center-midfielder, who smiled through every win and loss, even when she scored for the other team.
“That just summed it up, most players devastated. She just laughed it off,” Stansfield said.
Stansfield says they’ve lost a family member, but are leaning on each other.
“If you had Cassidy in your life, if you knew her you were a happier person for it, she just had that spark,” Stansfield said.
The girls say they’re playing the rest of their season in Cassidy’s honor.
Cassidy’s family is planning funeral services for Friday and Saturday. A candlelight vigil was scheduled for 6:30 Tuesday night at Mount Merici Academy in Waterville.
CBS 13 spoke to one of the teachers at Mount Merici Academy who taught Cassidy when she was in sixth grade. She said she saw Cassidy about a month ago when Cassidy asked her to write her a letter of recommendation. She says she continues to remember Cassidy as a loving, wonderful young woman who had such a bright future.
“She came and sat down on our porch and we chatted for a really long time and I remember so clearly now watching her leave and thinking she’s so beautiful, she’s so strong and just the pride her family and all of us here at Mount Merici Academy her extended family have for her and I know she’s looking down on us and guiding us through this and for the future,” Donna Russo, who teaches sixth and seventh grade, said.
Russo did write that letter for Cassidy and she says she specifically noted her leadership qualities.