Memorial rises for Ridgefield teens killed in crash

RIDGEFIELD, Wash. - Students at Ridgefield High School are decorating a memorial in remembrance of four teenagers who died Monday in a car accident, and another who is critically injured.

Monday's crash killed driver Aja Gerrity, and passengers Richard Araiza, Jason Carter and Amanda Williams, and left the remaining passenger, Dustin Leitzell (pictured at right), hospitalized in critical condition.

All five graduated from Ridgefield High School, about 25 miles north of Portland up Interstate 5, this past spring.

It's especially hard because these kids were all so involved in school - and their trip was a sendoff for heading on to college.

Students at Ridgefield High School - some who graduated in the spring and others still at the school - spent Tuesday decorating the growing memorial around the school sign in remembrance of the teenagers who died.

The five were in a sports utility vehicle headed toward the coast on Highway 30 near Clatskanie Tuesday when they passed another vehicle, skidded sideways into oncoming traffic, and a van slammed into their SUV.

"I was really good friends with all of the people involved in the accident," said classmate Skyler Guess. "Dustin and Aja were my best friends and I'm so just distraught. I still don't believe that it's real."

The Ridgefield School District had counselors and chaplains at the high school on Tuesday to help family and friends of the victims deal with their sudden loss.

The Oregon State Police said crash investigators have determined none of the three boys who were sitting in the back seat of that SUV were wearing seatbelts.

NOTE: The driver of the van, 55-year-old Ki Young Kim of Vancouver, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.