Girl, 13, 'full of potential' dies in car crash

The all-girls Shalhevet High School in North Woodmere had scheduled tryouts for its basketball team Tuesday night, and Sarah Erdan would have been there.

Instead, the Jewish school was in mourning Tuesday after the 13-year-old freshman from Brooklyn was killed in a car crash Sunday, caused, according to police, by an underaged driver who was speeding.

"It really was a tremendous shock, a devastating loss," said Rabbi Zev Friedman, the headmaster. "So much talent, so much personality and potential, just snuffed out - it's just very hard to deal with."

Sarah was killed when the 16-year-old driver of a minivan who was giving Sarah and her 16-year-old brother, Joseph, a ride lost control of the vehicle in a residential section of Midwood. The 16-year-olds were injured and taken to Kings County Hospital, where they were in stable condition.

Police said the driver was traveling at twice the speed limit on a one-way, single-lane strip - up to 63 mph in a 30 mph zone. The minivan careened into a parked car, a tree and finally a house.

The driver had only a state-issued junior driver's license, which allows him to drive only under strict circumstances; for instance, a licensed driver must be sitting next to him and there must be no more than one underage passenger. He was charged with reckless endangerment, speeding, operating a vehicle out of class, and criminally negligent homicide.

Friedman said the small, tight-knit school canceled classes Monday and arranged for two buses to take the entire student body of 55 girls to Sarah's funeral in Brooklyn. They also had grief counselors and a psychologist speak to the students Monday morning.

Tuesday, the school resumed classes, but it wasn't easy, he said. "We're trying to restore some sense of normalcy, but the event is fresh in our minds and it's palpable."

Shalhevet, which is in its third year of existence, is the sister school to Rambam Mesivta, a Yeshiva high school for boys in Lawrence. Friedman said both schools emphasize good moral values among their students, and Sarah fit in perfectly.

She was "a sweet girl" who had "a lot of focus on life values," he said.