GARY | Mayor Rudy Clay questioned Monday whether his city's officers responded properly to a weekend car accident that killed two Gary teens.

Meanwhile, the distraught parents of Brandon Smith, 18, one of the teens who died in the wreck, comforted Darius Moore, the 17-year-old surviving driver in the accident, absolving Moore of blame in the death of their son. (Watch the video.)

Clay said he was upset other rescue workers had not surveyed the wooded ditch along the 2700 block of Chase Street to search for more victims of the deadly crash. Moore said he told police and emergency workers as he was being transported to the hospital that Smith and Dominique Green, also 18, both of whom had been ejected from the vehicle, were still back at the accident scene.

But Gary Police Chief Thomas Houston defended his officers and emergency personnel Monday, saying they had received conflicting information regarding whether anyone had been left behind at the accident scene. Police also said the two survivors had been drinking and that one was legally drunk, though the chief would not specify who had been legally drunk at the time of the incident.

Still, Clay said the situation required more care.

"If I would have been the policeman on the scene, I would've called the Fire Department and said, 'Look for the people that was lost there,'" Clay said. "Looks like somebody messed up here."

The accident happened early Saturday morning when four teens were returning home from a hip-hop show. Moore said he lost control of the car, which flipped repeatedly, smashed through the guard rail and plunged into the ravine off Chase Street.

Brandon Smith's father, Arthur Smith, found his son and Green dead in the brush hours after the crash.

Moore and his teenaged friend DeAndre Anderson survived but suffered injuries. Moore said Monday his injuries and the dark prevented him from finding Smith and Green after the accident and that police ignored his repeated pleas to find them.

"Just go save my two friends," he said he told police.

Arthur Smith, kneeling next to Moore's bed at the teen's Gary home Monday, wept and comforted a sobbing Moore.

"Don't let your heart trouble, Darius," Arthur Smith said. "The Lord ain't mad, and we definitely ain't mad."

Samantha Epps, Brandon Smith's mother, wiped tears from Moore's face.

"Be strong," she told him. "Get well, and graduate. We know you did the best you can."

Moore and others denounced findings released Monday from the Lake County coroner that concluded Smith and Green died instantly in the crash, both suffering massive skull fractures and internal blunt force injuries.

But Houston stood by the coroner's findings, saying officials told him, "No matter how much medical assistance was at the scene, there were no lives to be saved."

Houston said police never actually received a report about an accident. Rather, Officer Jeffery Westerfield responded to a report from a resident of a "suspicious" person at the door. Moore said he had traveled on foot after the accident, knocking on nearby doors seeking help.

Houston said officers did search some of the area, even lifting the car, but did not find anyone.

Houston said after police responded, there was some confusion because of conflicting reports from survivors of the wreck as to whether Smith and Green were still at the scene or whether they had been dropped off at a location prior to the accident.

Survivors told police, "We may have dropped our friends off, we may not have," Houston said. "They couldn't remember."

Houston defended the responding officer's actions, calling Westerfield a "very dedicated police officer. He only could do what he had with the information he had."

Houston said reports detailing the accident were not yet complete.

He said speed and alcohol were involved in the accident. The two survivors had blood-alcohol concentrations of 0.05 and 0.09, but Houston would not say which level belonged to which teen. In Indiana, drivers with blood-alcohol concentrations of 0.08 or higher are legally intoxicated.

Police are continuing their investigation.