Overview
- Caden Nowicki, 17, a Ponder High School senior and football player, died Thursday after being hospitalized at Medical City Denton.
- The Texas Department of Public Safety’s preliminary account says a kayak towed by an ATV left the roadway, and Nowicki was thrown into a fence.
- DPS identified the uninjured ATV occupants as driver Jackson Long, 22, of Yukon, Oklahoma, and passenger Austin Erickson, 18.
- Ponder ISD announced a student vigil at 6 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Ponder, and district leaders asked for privacy for the family.
- Officials said Nowicki’s death is the third North Texas teen fatality tied to sledding during the storm, following a Frisco crash where a Jeep-towed sled struck a tree.