'Left Us Far Too Soon': Principal on Senior's Death

>>News Alerts: Subscribe to a free email newsletter: BETHESDA •ROCKVILLE • SILVER SPRING

BETHESDA, MD – As flowers left in memory of a Bethesda family killed in a weekend car crash continue to pile up, students from Walt Whitman High School remembered their classmates at a vigil.

Three members of the De Macedo family died at the scene from injuries suffered on Saturday, Montgomery County Police said. Authorities identified the victims as Michael Buarque De Macedo, 52; his wife, Alessandra M. Buarque De Macedo, 53; and their son, Thomas Michael Buarque De Macedo, 18.

Their daughter, Helena Buarque De Macedo, 15, was taken to a local trauma center with life-threatening injuries, where she is reportedly in stable condition Monday.

Thomas, a senior at Walt Whitman, was remembered Sunday night by students, teachers and school administrators as a gifted math student who shone on the school’s debate team.

“Shakespeare in his poetry and plays often talked about an untimely death, about a young person that left us far too soon … and indeed Tommy has left us far too soon,” said Walt Whitman Principal Alan Goodwin.

The collision on River Road near Pyle Road in Bethesda happened just before 7 p.m. Saturday. According to police, a BMW traveling west on River Road driven by Ogulcan Atakoglu, 20, collided with the De Macedo family’s Chevrolet Volt as it attempted to turn left onto Pyle Road.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services said in its blog that Atakoglu was taken to a local trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries. Police did not release his hometown or say if charges are likely in the accident.

Montgomery County Council member Roger Berliner said on Facebook that he plans to ask the Maryland State Highway Agency to install a stoplight at the intersection, which he described as dangerous, before tragedy strikes again.

County officials can’t make the change because River Road is a state highway.

“I have made that left turn off River Road onto Pyle many, many times. And way too often, it was a ‘white knuckle’ turn, with cars cresting the rise above at excessive speeds,” Berliner wrote. “Last night, tragedy struck the Buarque de Macedo family, and friends and family and the entire Whitman community have suffered heart-breaking losses.”

»Photo of flowers left at Bethesda crash site, courtesy of Montgomery Community Media