FERNDALE, Wash. — UPDATE: One of the victims of the Ferndale SUV crash -- 17-year-old Kole Randall, is now in satisfactory condition at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.
Michael Brewster, also 17, is still recovering at Harborview Medical Center.
The students were outside for a physical education class and were on the sidewalk when they were hit by a SUV Wednesday.
Two teen boys, 15-year-old Gabriel Anderson and 18-year-old Shane Ormiston, died.
The driver, William J. Klein, initially told the Washington State Patrol that he fell asleep.
Troopers said Klein admitted to daily marijuana use.
Klein did not admit to using marijuana before the deadly crash. The results of Klein’s drug test will take about a week.
Grief counselors and two therapy dogs visited the school last Thursday to help students deal with the loss.
State Trooper Mark Francis says the students were on a sidewalk on Graveline and West Smith roads Wednesday afternoon when the SUV left the road and hit them from behind.
“We heard the impact. [It] sounded like cars hitting, like three or four impacts, just: ‘boom, boom, boom,’” said Scott Delamare. “Within seconds I was running out there, and I saw, and called 911. … They looked like there were passed away people crumpled up on the side of the road, and it was horrible.”
WSP first reported the teens were hit walking home, but Mark Francis later said the kids were with a PE class of 30 students. A teacher was with the class.
“He needs to get life [in prison] for this, period,” said Leah Chilcote who saw the aftermath of the SUV going up on the sidewalk. “Two children are no longer here, two children are injured, there’s many families in the community affected by this, breaks my heart.”
"There are simply no words to soothe the pain of this loss. Ferndale is hurting and we mourn together, as a community," Ferndale Mayor Gary Jensen said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families in this time of tragedy."
KIRO
