Police to escort funeral procession for teen killed in PSL crash

STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Police will escort a large funeral procession Wednesday for one of the young victims killed in a Port St. Lucie crash earlier this month.

The funeral is for 16-year-old Draiden Frankwill, one of the three youths killed in a collision on Veterans Memorial Parkway on March 15. Police are expected to start escorting the procession in Stuart at around 1:20 p.m. and end in Port St. Lucie.

The procession will start at a funeral home on Northwest Federal Highway and head north to Veterans Memorial Parkway. It will then proceed up Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard and turn left on Southwest Del Rio Boulevard on its way to Rolling Oaks Cemetery.

The Port St. Lucie Police Department advises the public to expect traffic delays as the procession travels toward the cemetery.

This comes almost two weeks since the deadly crash that also killed 20-year-old Leah Herman, of Port St. Lucie, and 18-year-old Jimmy Brown, of Okeechobee, and sent two others to the hospital with severe injuries.

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On the night of the crash, the five friends were driving along Veteran's Memorial Pkwy in a Dodge Ram when the truck veered off the roadway and struck a tree, PSLPD reported.

“They were like a little brother and a little sister to me, and constant good memories with them," said Blake Mele last week, who was friends with Draiden and Leah. "They could both put a smile on your face at any time.”

Members of the community have since constructed a monument near the crash site to honor the three young lives claimed in the tragedy.