Lancaster teen pleads guilty in fatal crash

Hardin's parents didn't know she was in that car on a weeknight over the December break from school and hadn't given her permission, said her mother Susan Hardin.

Elyse Hardin was picked up at the house of a friend, Natalie Kohry, then 15. The girls got into Rogers' Chevrolet Cobalt.

Rogers, a rising senior at Lancaster High School, had a restricted driver's license - he was allowed to drive only between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and with no more than two minor passengers.

But on Dec. 29, Rogers and three other teens were in a crash about a mile from U.S. 521 around 10 p.m.

The car he was driving came to rest 280 feet - almost the length of a football field - from where it left the road, said Lance Cpl. J.D. Sisler of the Highway Patrol during the hearing.

Before it stopped, though, the car went airborne - as high as 18 feet -snapped a telephone pole in half and crashed into an office building.

Hardin, a 15-year-old sophomore at Lancaster High School, wasn't wearing a seat belt. She was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene.

Rogers pleaded guilty Thursday in family court to reckless homicide and violation of a restricted license under an Alford plea, which means he doesn't admit responsibility.

His attorney, George Speedy, said Rogers chose that plea because he doesn't remember what happened at the time of the crash.

Rogers will be evaluated by the state Department of Juvenile Justice before being sentenced. That could take up to 45 days.

He also will lose his driver's license for five years and will be on house arrest with electronic monitoring after the evaluation, before his sentencing.

Rogers could be committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice until he's 21, said assistant solicitor Bill Nowicki said. That won't be determined until after the DJJ evaluation.

Rogers and 14-year-old Dylan Kennington were flown from the crash to a Charlotte hospital. Another passenger, Kohry, who was wearing a seat belt, was treated at Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster.

Nearly the entire courtroom full of teens and family cried as Susan Hardin read a statement detailing the last time she heard from her daughter, what she'll never see her daughter do - even the special items buried with her.

"We placed her new cell phone beside her," Hardin said. "We call her every day to hear her voice on the voice mail greeting."

Hardin's parents asked the court for a severe punishment for Rogers, who they say has no remorse and has faced no consequences for his actions.

"Elyse's death was not the result of an inexperienced driver," Susan Hardin said. "Her death was the result of a deliberate, intentional act of an irresponsible teenage driver that was driving at a rate of 119 miles an hour."

Before Rogers agreed to plead guilty to the charges, Speedy said he had an independent engineer examine the Highway Patrol's investigation report. Speedy said they determined Rogers probably wasn't driving 100, but was speeding.

Rogers did offer an apology in court.

"I'm so sorry (for what) I put everyone through," he said. "I wish it wouldn't have happened."

Kennington also doesn't remember what happened in the crash. He suffered head and neck injuries and underwent surgery during his three days at Carolinas Medical Center. Seven months later, he said, he's getting used to the pain.

His mother, Rachel Kennington, said she's afraid every time her sons get in the car. Her older son, Austin, is a licensed 16-year-old driver.

"I can't describe the feeling," she said of going to the crash scene that night. "I worry every time he gets in a car now. I'm on pins and needles until they get back home."

Kennington said she'd like to see restricted license rules, including having too many passengers, enforced.