Injured women listed in good condition

UNC athlete faces charges in crash

CHAPEL HILL -- From 20 yards away, Pamela Postage saw the speeding SUV barrel off the road and send two young women flying.

She ran to help, expecting the worst. "I really thought they were dead, the way they had gotten hit," Postage, 19, said of the incident Sunday morning on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Fire Station 1.

Both victims -- UNC-Chapel Hill seniors Carolyn Anne Kubitschek, 21, of Asheville, and Casey Marie LeSawyer, 21, of Weaverville -- suffered broken bones and other serious injuries. They were listed in good condition at UNC Hospitals on Monday.

"They're doing incredibly well," said Zach Strom, 20, Postage's boyfriend. "Based on what happened, nine out of 10 times it's going to end up worse than it did."

Kevin Kearney, father of UNC-CH tennis star Christopher Kearney, who police say was driving the SUV, said his son and his whole family are "absolutely devastated" by the incident.

Kearney, the 2007 ACC Freshman of the Year in tennis, has been suspended from the team and will leave school to go home to California. He posted $50,000 bond Monday and was released from jail.

If he is convicted of a felony, he will never again play tennis at UNC-CH.

"Chris is not a monster," Kevin Kearney said Monday from his Irvine, Calif., home. "He is a super kid. It seems as though he made a bad judgment."

Kearney, 20, was charged with two counts of felony hit and run, driving while intoxicated, possession of fake identification, underage drinking and misdemeanor reckless driving.

He registered a blood alcohol level of 0.18, more than twice the legal limit for drivers 21 years or older, according to a police report.

Strom said Kearney got out of his 2004 Nissan Murano to leave but three Marines stopped him, and one pinned him to the ground.

Postage ran to LeSawyer's side after the crash and tried to calm her. LeSawyer suffered a broken leg and hip and a deep gash on the back of her head that required surgical staples, Strom said. Strom said both Kubitschek's legs were badly broken and she required three surgeries. She could not be reached for comment Monday.

Kevin Kearney said the incident is out of character for his son.

"Chris is a wonderful kid," Kearney said, his voice cracking, "and I can't imagine what the parents of those girls are going through. ... We hope that everything gets better, that they make a full recovery and there are no side effects of any of this."

Chris Kearney's attorney, Amos G. Tyndall, said the incident has his client and his client's family reeling. "He's a person who's never been in trouble in his life in any way," Tyndall said.

Kearney's tennis coach, Sam Paul, said in a statement that his main concern was the health of Kubitschek and LeSawyer. He called Kearney "a good person who has made a serious mistake."