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LOOK AT WHAT THE GOD DAMNED CANTON REPOSITORY WROTE... >:o fucking hate the press....
Carrollton school officials are preparing students for the worst today as they pray for the life of their popular speech and debate coach.
Todd Casper, 40, was clinging to life early this morning in Akron Children’s Hospital’s burn unit from self-inflicted burns to most of his body.
Casper apparently drove his car onto a gravel road that leads to Sandy Creek Dam from Route 183 just west of Waynesburg, said Sgt. Barbara Gardner of the Magnolia Police Department. He then poured gasoline onto himself and set himself on fire, she said.
Roxie Long of Zoarville was driving by when she saw a man on fire walking up the gravel road. She turned her car around and headed back.
“He was walking across the road right in front of me, flames coming off of him,” she said. “I had to stop or I’d have hit him.”
By the time she parked her car, another man ran from a car with a shirt and was beating down the flames. She said Casper was coherent when they got him to the ground.
“He was yelling ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me,’ and then it sounds like he said he’s going to die or he wants to die,” Long said. “We got him quieted down, and he just said, ‘Hurts, hurts, hurts.’ I asked if there was someone I could call, and he shook his head no.”
Some men at the scene saw the smoke coming from Casper’s car on the gravel road and asked if there was anyone else in the wreck.
“He said, ‘No wreck,’ and I asked him what happened, and he said, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Long said. “I asked him his name, and it sounded like he said Lloyd (his father’s name is Floyd), then he said Todd, then Casper.
“I said, ‘I know who you are; you teach at Carrollton,’ and he shook his head yes. He opened his eyes and looked right at me, like maybe he was looking to see if he knew me, but he doesn’t. His eyes were so blue. Then he closed them again.
“When the ambulance got there, he wouldn’t give his name or tell them who his family was,” she said. “(Sgt.) Gardner told me later he admitted he had poured the gas on himself to the paramedics in the ambulance.”
Gardner said Casper was burned from the top of his head to his ankles. His hiking boots protected his feet, she said.
It was unclear what prompted his actions.
A case nurse at Akron Children’s Hospital said Casper was “extremely critical” Tuesday night.
Students at Carrollton lost a popular bus driver, Cheryl Haun, three weeks ago when she was killed in a traffic accident on Route 43 north of Carrollton, said Superintendent Kevin Spears. This second incident is even more serious because Casper was one of the most popular teachers at the school.
“We’re meeting (Tuesday night) and advising teachers of what we know,” Spears said. “We’ll have counselors available at the school (today) to help students deal with this tragedy. We’re just praying for Todd and his family.
“He did such a spectacular job here with the speech team, and they won the state championship two years ago,” he said. “That, and the plays he put on were always of the highest quality.”
Casper was the first noncommercial director to get the rights from the Disney Co. to stage “Beauty and the Beast.” He once had a live horse and buggy on the old stage at the Bell-Herron Middle School for a production of “Oklahoma.” He often had to double the cast of his plays to accommodate all the students who wanted to be a part of it, and every play during the last 10 years was sold out.
Casper was inducted into the state speech coaches Hall of Fame last spring.
Carrollton school officials are preparing students for the worst today as they pray for the life of their popular speech and debate coach.
Todd Casper, 40, was clinging to life early this morning in Akron Children’s Hospital’s burn unit from self-inflicted burns to most of his body.
Casper apparently drove his car onto a gravel road that leads to Sandy Creek Dam from Route 183 just west of Waynesburg, said Sgt. Barbara Gardner of the Magnolia Police Department. He then poured gasoline onto himself and set himself on fire, she said.
Roxie Long of Zoarville was driving by when she saw a man on fire walking up the gravel road. She turned her car around and headed back.
“He was walking across the road right in front of me, flames coming off of him,” she said. “I had to stop or I’d have hit him.”
By the time she parked her car, another man ran from a car with a shirt and was beating down the flames. She said Casper was coherent when they got him to the ground.
“He was yelling ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me,’ and then it sounds like he said he’s going to die or he wants to die,” Long said. “We got him quieted down, and he just said, ‘Hurts, hurts, hurts.’ I asked if there was someone I could call, and he shook his head no.”
Some men at the scene saw the smoke coming from Casper’s car on the gravel road and asked if there was anyone else in the wreck.
“He said, ‘No wreck,’ and I asked him what happened, and he said, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Long said. “I asked him his name, and it sounded like he said Lloyd (his father’s name is Floyd), then he said Todd, then Casper.
“I said, ‘I know who you are; you teach at Carrollton,’ and he shook his head yes. He opened his eyes and looked right at me, like maybe he was looking to see if he knew me, but he doesn’t. His eyes were so blue. Then he closed them again.
“When the ambulance got there, he wouldn’t give his name or tell them who his family was,” she said. “(Sgt.) Gardner told me later he admitted he had poured the gas on himself to the paramedics in the ambulance.”
Gardner said Casper was burned from the top of his head to his ankles. His hiking boots protected his feet, she said.
It was unclear what prompted his actions.
A case nurse at Akron Children’s Hospital said Casper was “extremely critical” Tuesday night.
Students at Carrollton lost a popular bus driver, Cheryl Haun, three weeks ago when she was killed in a traffic accident on Route 43 north of Carrollton, said Superintendent Kevin Spears. This second incident is even more serious because Casper was one of the most popular teachers at the school.
“We’re meeting (Tuesday night) and advising teachers of what we know,” Spears said. “We’ll have counselors available at the school (today) to help students deal with this tragedy. We’re just praying for Todd and his family.
“He did such a spectacular job here with the speech team, and they won the state championship two years ago,” he said. “That, and the plays he put on were always of the highest quality.”
Casper was the first noncommercial director to get the rights from the Disney Co. to stage “Beauty and the Beast.” He once had a live horse and buggy on the old stage at the Bell-Herron Middle School for a production of “Oklahoma.” He often had to double the cast of his plays to accommodate all the students who wanted to be a part of it, and every play during the last 10 years was sold out.
Casper was inducted into the state speech coaches Hall of Fame last spring.