Woman, 21, and girl, 17, face several charges in fatal crash

A 21-year-old woman and a17-year-old girl are facing several charges stemming from a collision Monday night that left two teenagers dead and one in serious condition.

The woman is facing 14 charges and the girlfaces three charges. Both were arrested after the accident.

The woman's charges includeimpaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, flight causing death, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, criminal negligence causing death, possession of stolen property and breach of probation.

The girl's charges includepossession of stolen property under $5,000 and breach of undertaking.

They will appear in Saskatoon Provincial Court this morning.

Both suspects had been arrested and charged in the past with stealing vehicles,Saskatoon police chief CliveWeighillsaid yesterday.

Students from Bethlehem Catholic High School

Grief counsellors are at a Saskatoon high school helping students and staff cope with the aftermath.

• Teens killed in car crash went to Bethlehem Catholic High School

And the city's police chief is calling on drivers to smarten up when it comes to leaving keys in vehicles.

CBC News has learned that the 17-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl killed in the accident, and the 16-year-old girl injured, all went to Bethlehem High School.

School board officials would not confirm the precise school. But Director of Education Greg Chatlaindid say that it was one of the schools in the catholic system, and that the tragic events response team was at the school.

"Students will be affected differently and some will be wanting to be with other students and talk together. Others would rather do that more in private one-on-one kind of a setting," he said in an interview.

"We know that grieving and coming to grips with these types of situationsis a process that takes some time and that we need to be there foreveryone in various ways through the long haul."

Police chief shaken, angry

ChiefWeighill met with reporters yesterday. He provided a chronology of how the accident happened, and gave some context on the issue of stolen vehicles.

He said that the accident happened around 8 p.m. CST after an officer spotted a truck reported stolen. The officer followed the truck for a few blocks before turning on his flashers.

That's when the driver bolted. Weighill said the truck broadsided the car driven by the teens 18 seconds later.

You see somebody stealing a car, you arrest them and bring them in. Two days later they are back on the street.- Chief Clive Weighill

Weighill said the accident highlights the problem of stolen vehicles in the city.

There have been 39 arrests since April 1 involving youths stealing cars. In addition, overall vehicle thefts are up 28 per cent from last year.

Especially troubling, he said, is that 70 per cent of those thefts happened because the owners left their keys in the vehicle.

Such was the case in the truck involved in the fatal accident.