Elaina Rose Canestrare died after losing control of cart.
Elaina Rose Canestrare, 14, of Geddes, a ninth-grader at Solvay High School, died Sunday morning from injuries she suffered in a golf cart crash late Saturday night at her aunt's house in the town of Camillus. Elaina Rose, shown in this family photo, was driving three other children on the cart when it rolled over several times. As night fell, the 14-year-old asked her aunt, Cheryl Chemotti, to let her go for one last spin on the golf cart before she went to sleep in a tent outside the Chemotti’s suburban Camillus house.
Cheryl Chemotti said no, but her niece from Geddes pleaded. “Please, Aunt Cher.” Chemotti consented.
Elaina Rose jumped behind the wheel. On board were her 10-year-old brother, John, and two teenagers.
Chemotti waved from the backyard as Elaina steered the cart twice around the house at 2577 Rolling Hills Road, and headed out front again. It was about 11:25 p.m.
“I couldn’t hear anything,” Chemotti said. “It was quiet. Then all of a sudden I hear screaming. ‘Aunt Cher. Aunt Cher.’”
She ran to the end of her driveway, where she found Elaina Rose, a ninth-grader at Solvay High School, lying unconscious. The golf cart was on the lawn at the edge of her property.
Chemotti leaned down next to Elaina Rose’s face, and told her she would be OK. “She stopped breathing in my arms,” Chemotti said. “I said, ‘Elaina Rose, breathe. Breathe Elaina Rose. Breathe.’”
She started breathing again.
When Warners and Memphis volunteer firefighters arrived, Elaina Rose was unconscious, but had a pulse, said Warners First Assistant Fire Chief Mike Knowlton. Firefighters kept her airway open until paramedics arrived.
WAVES Ambulance took Elaina Rose to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.
At the hospital, doctors and nurses tried desperately to save Elaina Rose, her aunt said. “They did everything they could,” she said. “They just continuously kept resuscitating her, but they couldn’t stop her from bleeding. We had to make a decision.”
Elaina Rose Canestrare, the daughter of Susan and Robert Canestrare, was pronounced dead about 5 a.m. Sunday.
Robert Canestrare had left the Chemotti’s house about a half hour before the accident occurred. Susan Canestrare had not been at the gathering.
“I just feel terrible,” Chemotti said, crying at her kitchen table. “I don’t even have words to express this accident and the terrible tragedy to our family. It’s devastated the whole family.”
Elaina Rose’s brother, John, was treated at Upstate University Hospital for a bump on his head and some bruises. The other two passengers on the golf cart, Elaina Rose’s cousin, Madison “Maddy” Godbold, 14, of Onondaga, and Godbold’s friend, Courtney Smith, 14, of Camillus, were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Chemotti said her mother, mother-in-law, six brothers, three sisters and their families had gathered Saturday at her home to celebrate four birthdays, a 25th wedding anniversary and Father’s Day. Several adults had been keeping an eye on the children riding the golf cart throughout the day, and Chemotti said they knew not to go into the road.
“I love my nieces and nephews. You think you’re doing the right thing and you want to make them happy,” Chemotti said. “What’s the harm of a couple more minutes? But in a split second, it’s taken away from you.”
Elaina Rose’s brother, John, told Chemotti at the hospital that “Elaina was going very fast down the driveway and and tried to turn when she got to the end of the driveway and the cart flipped,” Chemotti said.
Camillus Police Chief Thomas Winn said the cart rolled over several times. He described her death as “a tragic accident.”
School counselors will be available today in the Solvay, Marcellus, and West Genesee school districts, where the four children attended, Winn said.
“Elaina Rose was a beautiful girl and very well liked,” Chemotti said. “It’s like, why God? There are no answers. You can beat yourself up, but you can’t bring her back. She will never be forgotten.”
Contact Catie O’Toole at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.