Crash survivor recalls final night with best friend

The night ended with a car crash that injured Sarah Tolman and took the life of 19-year-old Joshua Harding.

Tolman graduated from Yale High School a week before the accident. She said Harding, who graduated from Yale High two years before, was one of her best friends.

"The night that we crashed, (we) talked about everything in our life," Tolman said. "We talked about how good of friends we are and how we'll always be there for each other."

Harding, a Greenwood Township resident, was driving a car with Tolman and three other teens as passengers to his home early Monday morning after a friend's all-night party. He swerved off the left side of the road and struck a tree. The car was within 400 feet of his house, police said.

Deputy Tom Jackson, an accident investigator with the St. Clair County Sheriff Department, said Harding and his passengers each had consumed alcohol, and none of the five was wearing seat belts.

Harding died after suffering massive head injuries.

His death was the only local fatality during Memorial Day weekend, but two other accidents investigated by the Sheriff Department ended in injuries. Both happened between 9 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday and involved a single car colliding with a tree, Sgt. Jerry Bassett said. Alcohol played a part in both accidents.

After Monday's accident, Tolman and James Lewis, 18, of Harper Woods were treated at local hospitals.

Lewis was released, but Tolman was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital for further treatment. The other passengers were not injured.

The teens told Jackson they all yelled for Harding to slow down as he sped across the gravel road.

Jackson said an investigation is under way to determine whether criminal charges will be filed.

He said both the person who supplied the teens with alcohol and the owners of the property where they drank it could be charged with manslaughter, punishable by 15 years in prison.

The passengers could be charged with underage drinking, Jackson said.

Harding was a friendly, extroverted free spirit who "loved life," his brother, Jason Harding, 23, said. Three days before the accident, Jason went out of town for the weekend and said goodbye to his brother.

"He told me to be careful, said 'I'll see you when you get back.' That was the last time I spoke to him," Jason said.

Seven extra police units paid for by a state grant patrolled St. Clair County roads during the weekend to make drunken-driving arrests.