The Common Man Restaurant. Merrimack, New Hampshire: With a plate of quinoa stuffed peppers on the table and his girlfriend Paige across from him, 21-year-old John Salamone leans over his sweet potato fries, and sobs. In the distance he can hear the lyrics of a Hall and Oates classic he knows all too well, ‘you’re a rich girl, and you’re going too far. but you know it won’t matter anyway...’. It isn’t what it used to be anymore; it’s not a song but rather a visit. Joining them at dinner on this Saturday night are Christian Couto and Devyn Crosby - not physically but in spirit.
Couto, Crosby and Salamone have known eachother since grade school. “We all grew up in the same town - small town - I think there's like 6000 people [total]” Salamone mentions. When they started middle school, the boys and their friend group gave themselves a name that seemed to stick. “We called ourselves the Goon Squad”, Salamone said proudly, “We just had a group chat and somebody named it that. We’ve had the same group chat since like middle school. We still talk in it”.
The self-proclaimed ‘Goon Squad’ did what any typical pre-teen kids would do in Berkley, Massachusetts: make their own fun. “We were always looking for things to do. We got our bikes and we would go anywhere - anywhere in town. We would go get pizza, we would go to the store at the center of town, get candy and stuff”. With ten dollars to their name they’d head to Dough Licious and get their usual order: chicken fingers. “We ended up getting the nickname ‘the chicken finger boys’ by the guy Bill who owns the place” Salamone laughs, “A couple of my friends have worked for him. One of my friends still [does]”
“In high school the Goon Squad just kind of faded a little bit. And we didn't really see each other that much” Salamone said. However, what developed from the Goon Squad was a lifelong friendship, especially between Salamone and Crosby. “I’m just going to refer to him as Crawzz” Salamone mentioned, “Like two Z’s. So when you type it up, C-R-A-W-Z-Z”.
“He was like, my dude. I was with Crawzz all the time.” Salamone said. “Like I’d go get gas and be like, ‘Hey you wanna come?’” From taking golf carts on a spin during their time working at Fall River country club, to revving their engines whenever they drove past the Crosby house, the two remained inseparable. “I spent a lot of time with Devin ... like a lot of time”.
John Salamone (left) and Devyn Crosby in an Instagram post for Crosby's birthday on April 12th, 2020
Credit: John Salamone
However, around 6:00 pm on March 27, 2020, Salamone’s life would never be the same. Driving almost 70 in a 40 mph backroad street, Couto would lose control of the wheel of his BMW causing the car - with Salamone in the passenger’s seat, and Crawzz in the back - to crash into a tree.
The aftermath: at just 18 and 19 years old, Devin Crosby and Christian Couto would lose their lives at the scene. “I definitely remember [feeling] like something’s gonna happen - like going around the corner and being like ‘Oh fuck’ knowing we’re going to crash” Salamone said. After being found by a neighbor and being removed from the car, Salamone would have no memory of the next 12 hours.
“How come? Why did they die and I didn’t die?”
“[It was] like when you wake up from a nap and you don’t know where you are. You’re just like where am I and how did I get here” Salamone says. “It’s the craziest thing. That’s a 12 hour gap that’s just gone. I can’t remember anything”. Salimone would come back to consciousness hours later in Rhode Island hospital, where despite COVID precautions, his mom would spend the night by his side.
At 6:00 the next morning, Salamone learned that he was the only one from the vehicle that made it out alive that night, and the BMW that carried his best friends burst into flames. “I left my house and then I ended up in a hospital” Salamone said, “It’s like my life almost restarted. Everything just changed from that point”.
Coming out of the crash as its only survivor, and recovering in the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Salamone spent most nights at his Berkley home. “It kind of messes with me. Like ‘How come? Why did they die and I didn’t die?” he reminisces.
However, what he owes his life to is not only luck, but his seatbelt. “My justification is that I had my seatbelt on. That’s the only reason I have to not make me [messed] up about it.” He says, “It’s just wild to me that I was walking two days later and they both died. I don’t know what happened to them. I don’t know how they died, but I can only assume it's because they didn’t have a seatbelt on. If there's one big takeaway from the whole thing: wear a seatbelt.”
It’s been over a year and a half since the day that Salamone’s life restarted. He spends most days working with his dad, a goal he’s had since he was young. Sometimes when the work gets hard or he gets frustrated, he’ll hear the song that reminds him of his best friend and take a deep breath. “One day at work I was aggravated about something, like somebody pissed me off. And then [Rich Girl] came on someone else's radio, and it just kind of calmed me down” Salamone says, “And I told my girlfriend about that. And she's like, ‘He was there. He was telling you to chillax’”
If he’s gained anything from that day, Salamone says it’s a new perspective on life. “I try to make the best out of any situation” he says, “I want my goals to be achieved almost for them. When I
buy a house they’re going to be with me buying that house. When I get married, I’m not going to have a best man at my wedding because I called Crawzz my best man. He would have been there, so I’m not going to have a best man for his honor.”
Now, Salamone waits at restaurants with a little more patience as he watches the booths fill with local families and friends, and perhaps even another group of boys notorious for riding bikes and eating chicken fingers. He listens to the music slightly humming, because you never know when a particular Hall and Oates song will play, or when the Goon Squad will stop in to say hello.
(From left to right) Christian Couto, Devyn Crosby, and John Salamone
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