Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995                   TAG: 9501050065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEEN STILL IN COMA AFTER DEC. CRASH

A 17-year-old Patrick Henry High School senior who was struck by a pickup truck last month as he was riding a horse on Virginia 24 near Stewartsville is still in a coma at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Dwayne Spangler, who received a severe head injury from the accident, is listed in stable condition in the hospital's neurointensive care unit.

"He's been having some ups and downs," his mother, Connie Neal, said Wednesday.

Spangler was scheduled to go to the University of Virginia's Physical and Medical Rehabilitation Center this week, where he was to receive treatment that could bring him out of his coma. But his condition worsened slightly, his mother said, and that delayed his transfer.

Neal said her son has received many visits from concerned teachers and classmates. She said she believes their visits have helped him and asked them all to "pray for me and pray for Dwayne."

Spangler was riding horses with his father and two friends the evening of Dec.11, when he and Walter Campbell Jr., 38, were struck by a pickup truck driven by Jonathan Alls, 22, of Moneta.

Campbell was injured but was discharged from the hospital later that week. Their horses were killed by the impact.

Alls, whose driver's license had been suspended, was charged with driving after being declared a habitual offender, a misdemeanor.

State Trooper Mark Scarce said Alls was driving about 45 mph when he struck the horses, which may have been crossing the road. None of the riders was wearing reflective garments or carrying lights, Scarce said.