Teens mourn friends killed in street-racing crash

SOUTH PARK, Wash. — Hundreds of teens mourned two friends who were killed in a South Park crash blamed on street racing.

Six 8th- and 9th-graders were packed into an Acura Integra that slammed into a utility pole Sunday night at Eighth Avenue South and South Cambridge Street, police said.

Friends held each other and cried Monday as they grieved the deaths of Lucie Hernandez, 13, and Luis Martinez, 16, at the crash scene that was marked by candles and flowers, said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Alison Grande.

"Her smile was one of kind. Now it's gone. Nobody is going to see that again," said Rosa Salizar, a friend of Lucie.

Luis Martinez, the driver, picked up five passengers at Southcenter Mall.

Gilbert Camacho was in the car he says Martinez was street racing.

"We were racing against other cars, then I guess the car slipped when it was raining, and we crashed," Camacho said.

"The dust was just settling and the car was perpendicular to the pole," said a witness who did not want to be named.

The witness said she is convinced the teens were street racing. She saw another car drive off as she drove up.

Arturo Cabrera wants to know how his girlfriend, Hernandez, died.

"When I found out, I felt anxious to find out what really happened," Cabrera said. "I didn't believe she died."

Hernandez's sister, Carla, is still in the hospital and is expected to survive.

Police are investigating the crash.

KIRO