EL CAJON, Calif. — A friend of the victim who was killed in a violent rollover crash Saturday in El Cajon spoke out about the Grossmont Union High School student whose identity was not released due to privacy from the district.
“It hurts,” friend Yosef Larjes told FOX 5. “I was crying earlier in the car, actually.”
The incident happened when a black Honda Civic was going eastbound on Navajo Road near Fletcher Parkway “at a high rate of speed,” causing the driver to lose control and hit a traffic light pole around 2 a.m. Saturday, according to El Cajon Police Lt. Darrin Forster. Two other people in the car were injured in the crash as well and rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
In a statement, Grossmont Union High School District confirmed the driver was a 12th grader and two of the injured passengers are 11th graders at Grossmont High. The third passenger was not a student in the district, officials said.
Larjes described the victim as a “really nice guy” and “funny.”
“Really nice personality,” he said. “He did a lot of things for me. We do a lot of things. He’s always been there for me.”
Larjes says he feels for the family, as the victim “had a whole future ahead of him.”
“It’s sad, I feel bad for his parents, especially,” he said. “I feel like this a lesson to everyone else, a lesson from God.”
Flowers, candles and balloons were also left behind at the scene of the crash.
While investigators have said speed was a factor in the collision, they had not determined whether drugs or alcohol were involved as of Saturday afternoon.
El Cajon police urged anyone with any information regarding the crash to call them at 619-579-3311.