CENTERVILLE - Six people were injured, one of them critically, in a three-car crash on Route 28 early yesterday morning.  A section of the road near the Bell Tower Mall and Old Stage Road was closed for three hours, the Barnstable police said.  Fog on the Cape and heavy rain in Boston prevented two of the injured people from being flown to Boston by Med-Flight helicopter.  All six victims were taken to Cape Cod Hospital by ambulances from three fire departments.  Paul Ciochini, 17, of Marstons Mills was reported in critical condition at the hospital yesterday, where he was treated for head injuries as well as multiple broken bones in his face and legs.  Ciochini was the driver of a white van that witnesses told police was eastbound on Route 28 when it crossed the center line and collided head-on with another car.  That vehicle, a GMC Jimmy, was driven by Paul MacDonald, 20, of Centerville.  Two passengers in Ciochini's van, Christopher Elmer, 20, and David Sorenson, 18, both of Barnstable, were also injured.  The extent of their injuries was not available yesterday.  MacDonald, the son of Barnstable police Lt. Paul MacDonald, was treated for a broken leg.  Patrick Manfredi, 21, of Centerville, a passenger in MacDonald's car, was treated for a broken wrist and hip injury.  At the time of the accident, MacDonald was driving west in the far right lane section of Route 28, Sgt. Sean Sweeney said.  Kristen Douglas, 23, of Sandwich, the driver of a Mercury Topaz that slammed into the back of MacDonald's car, was also taken to Cape Cod Hospital after complaining of chest pains.  Douglas told police she saw the white van swerve across two lanes of traffic and hit MacDonald head-on.  Passengers in the van told police they were on their way home from a party in Mashpee, Sweeney said.  The collision occurred just west of the entrance to the Bell Tower Mall shortly after 3 a.m., Sweeney noted.  Ciochini was trapped inside his van.  Firefighters from Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills used a hydraulic tool to extricate him.  Ambulances from the Hyannis Fire Department and Barnstable Fire Department were called to help in transport to the hospital.  The accident is being investigated and reconstructed by members of the Barnstable police traffic team.  At this point, police do not know if any of the victims were wearing seat belts.

Centerville - The 17-year-old driver involved in a three-car crash on Route 28 last week in which five others were injured died Friday. Paul Ciochini, 17, of Marstons Mills died at a Boston hospital, three days after the head-on crash near the Bell Tower Mall and Old Stage Road. The other five victims were taken to Cape Cod Hospital with less threatening injuries. Ciochini suffered head injuries as well as multiple broken bones in his face and legs. He was the driver of a white van that witnesses told police was eastbound on Route 28 when it crossed the center line and collided head-on with another car. That vehicle, a Gmc Jimmy, was driven by Paul MacDonald, 20, of Centerville. Two passengers in Ciochini's van, Christopher Elmer, 20, and David Sorenson, 18, both of Barnstable were also injured.

Barnstable High student; worked at Stop & Shop

MARSTONS MILLS - Paul G. "Small Paul" Ciochini Jr., 17, died Friday at Cape Cod Hospital.  He was the son of Paul G. Ciochini Sr. and Denise M. (Smith) Ciochini of Marstons Mills.  Born in Hartford, Conn., Mr. Ciochini moved to Cape Cod 16 years ago and lived in Hyannis and Marstons Mills.  He was preparing to enter his senior year at Barnstable High School.  Mr. Ciochini worked at Stop & Shop in Marstons Mills and recently began working for the Cape Cod Five Cents Bank in Centerville.  He was a member of the Osterville Baptist Church and traveled to various parts of the world on missions trips.  Besides his parents, he is survived by two brothers, Thomas MacDonald of Marstons Mills and Ryan MacDonald of Hyannis; a sister, Marissa Ciochini of Marstons Mills; his paternal grandmother, Shirley Ciochini of Glastonbury, Conn.; his maternal grandmother, Alzira Lex-Bullock of Marstons Mills; and several aunts, uncles, cousins and a niece.

Barnstable High student Paul Ciochini Jr. is remebered as a star swimmer, a traveler and someone who enjoyed helping people.

MARSTONS MILLS - Three years ago, Paul Ciochini Jr. spent two weeks in Kenya helping build a barn. Then he went to New Zealand to join another Baptist missionary group. Family trips to Alaska and Brazil came soon after. "He was my little world traveler," said his mother, Denise Ciochini. Today, friends and family are mourning his death. Ciochini died Friday at Cape Cod Hospital after sustaining head injuries in a car accident. He was 17. "You just can't even put him into words," his mother said yesterday. "He was such a wonderful kid. What do you say about somebody's 17 years if life?" Ciochini, a resident of Marstons Mills, was a star swimmer at Barnstable High School, where he would have been an incoming senior. He worked at Stop & Shop as a cahier manager and was just hired as a teller by Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank. He was also active in his youth group at Osterville Baptist Church. He connected with children and enjoyed helping people, friends and family say. "He was a guy everybody kind of loved," youth pastor Brad Peterson said. "The girls in the youth group used to fight over who would marry him." Barnstable police officers are still investigating the accident that claimed Ciochini and sent five others to the hospital with less serious injuries, Sgt. Sean Sweeney said. Witnesses told police that Ciochini was the driver of a white van that crossed the center line and collided head-on with another car near the Bell Tower Mall on Route 28 in Centerville at about 3 a.m. Wednesday. "He came across the line for an unknown reason," Sweeney said. By Friday, doctors determined he was brain-dead, Denise Ciochini said. The family decided to take him off life support and donate his tissue, bones and organs. "I'm told he's going to help 49 people," his mother said. "Everywhere he worked, everywhere he went, he just touched people," she said. Ciochini'c youth group friends are relying on each other to make some sense of his death. "They're struggling with the finality of death," Peterson said. "I'm calling it a divine appointment. It was time. God's got some kind of purpose and plan for him."