Gilford crash victims visited by Recycled Percussion’s Justin Spencer

By GAIL OBER, LACONIA DAILY SUN

GILFORD — As the state police accident reconstruction team works on determining the cause of the crash that left a father and his 2-year-old daughter in critical condition at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, people from around the state, including Justin Spencer of Recycled Percussion have joined to support them.

Spencer, who is a Manchester native, posted to his Facebook page that he was heartbroken by little Arianna and her father, Brent Stranger, both in comas and in critical condition as they struggle to survive the Jan. 2 crash.

“The family wanted to me to share this so they could tell their story, and (theirs) is a story is of resilience, love and heartbreak,” wrote Spencer.

Stranger, his wife, Sarah Kunst, and their children, 2-year-old Arianna and 1-month-old Aiden, were driving toward their home in Alton when their Ford Focus collided with a Ford Econoline van being driven by James Willingham of Pine Street in Laconia who was headed toward Laconia.

Police at the time said the driver’s side bumper of the van opened the driver’s side of the Ford Focus “like a can opener.” Stranger and his daughter, who police said was in a car seat, were on that side of the car.

Police also said Monday that they got a call after the accident from someone who said they saw a white van swerving but didn’t call police at the time. Chief Anthony Bean Burpee said the caller was likely feeling some remorse about not calling earlier, but he said the person never came in to police to make a statement. He said police don’t know if this was the van involved in the crash or not.

Bean Burpee said the New Hampshire State Police took a series of photos, measurements and mathematical information at the scene but have yet to completely analyze the results to determine who, if anyone, was at fault.

He said police have not been able to speak with Stranger since he is in a coma, but they have spoken with Willingham.

Beyond that, he said there is no new information.

In a separate statement released by Deb Kunst, she thanked the community for their thoughts, prayers and support.

She said both Stranger and Arianna are extremely critical and both remain on life support at Dartmouth. She also asked that people ignore some of the statements made about their conditions on social media, as many of them are not true.

She said they have both undergone multiple surgeries and are still fighting for their lives.

Kunst said they family wanted to thank the police, fire, ambulance crews, the staff at LRGHealthcare, and the teams of doctors at Dartmouth Hitchcock who have helped the family in so many ways.

She said a GoFundMe page has been set up by family friend Kim Martin and is titled “Sarah and Brent.” As of noon on Monday, people had donated $15,900 to the fund to help the family offset medical costs.

Recycled Percussion’s Justin Spencer visited the family from Gilford who were involved in a serious crash Jan. 2 and posted this photo on Faceboook. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help them at https://www.gofundme.com/help-sarah-brents-family. (Screenshot photo)