Friends remember Canton teen killed in car accident

CANTON, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) - A community is heartbroken after hearing the teen involved in a freak accident has died.

Sixteen-year-old Paul O'Brien was run over by the car he was trying to back up outside his Canton home.

"I was in shock. I cried for about hours. I didn't even sleep last night,” Chris Pulido said. "He was just a great friend to be around. He was always nice, always caring. He was a really cool person.”

Police say Paul was backing up a vehicle outside his home when it somehow accelerated backwards. The car door was open and broke the fence.

"He somehow tried to compensate for that by holding onto the steering wheel and the vehicle unfortunately did a sharp U-turn on him and fish tailed and landed up against the house,” Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz.

Paul was run over, dragged and pinned against the house.  He was rushed to a hospital but later died from his injuries.

Investigators are still working to figure out exactly how this happened. Police here in Canton are working with State Police to reconstruct the accident.

The tight-knit community is also trying to deal with the overwhelming shock and disbelief. The school superintendent opened the high school Saturday so students could gather and talk about what happened.

"Just coming together with people who cared about Paul kind of made everybody feel a lot better to know everyone cared about each other and him at the same time,” Kyle Troy said.

Students plan to wear Paul's favorite color when they return to class next week.

Cox Media Group