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North Pocono High School Student Killed in Crash

ROARING BROOK TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A teen is dead after a crash in Lackawanna County. It happened along Route 435 in Roaring Brook Township near Elmhurst just ...

ROARING BROOK TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A teen is dead after a crash in Lackawanna County.

It happened along Route 435 in Roaring Brook Township near Elmhurst just before 7 p.m. Saturday.

According to the Lackawanna County coroner, Patrick Luptak, 17, of Jefferson Township, was killed when his car went off the road and down an embankment.

Emergency and recovery crews brought out lights to help bring the car back up the steep bank. Route 435 was down to one lane while police and tow crews worked at the scene.

Luptak would have started his senior year at North Pocono High School a week from Monday.

Luptak's classmate Vince Cianfichi visited the scene of the wreck on Sunday. He remembers the times he shared with Luptak as he looked at the handmade crosses other mourners have left.

"He sat next to me in physics, and he made the class tolerable. I hope my teacher hears that one, but he made physics puns, witty jokes, and he was an absolute hilarious kid," Cianfichi said. "We're supposed to be seniors in high school. We're supposed to graduate and get on with our lives, and this is absolutely awful. I'm devastated."

Cianfichi says his classmates have taken to social media to remember Luptak.

"Everybody is saying, 'Rest in peace, Patrick. Fly high, brother.' Everyone misses him. He was a very sweet, very caring person. Didn't care what anyone thought of him. He was the light on a dark day."

Cianfichi has also set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the Luptak family to help pay for funeral expenses.

Cianfichi hopes the school will remember Luptak at the start of the school year.

School officials said counselors will be available at the middle school and high school starting Monday at 9 a.m.

Police are looking into what caused the crash that took the life of a teenager right before his senior year, leaving so many in this community with broken hearts.

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