18-Year-Old Kerry Welsh Killed Saturday Night In West Covina Crash
WEST COVINA (CBSLA) — Family friends Monday identified the driver of a fatal weekend crash at the intersection of Vine and Hollenbeck avenues in West Covina as 18-year-old Kerry Welsh of Glendora.
"I don't know if you heard about her," Diane Sanchez, a family friend, said. "She's a phenomenal [18]-year-old girl."
Sanchez said Welsh was headed to her home Saturday night to pick up her little sister from a birthday party when another driver flew through a stop sign and t-boned her vehicle.
Welsh, who was taken to a nearby hospital, died from her injuries.
"She was the athlete of the year, she was the full-ride scholarship to Loyola Marymount University," Sanchez said. "She was gonna be a doctor, you know? She was so good."
On Monday, Sanchez stood in front of a memorial at the intersection of the crash and thanked the neighbors who rushed out of their homes in an attempt to save her life.
"And I let her parents know that as well, and it comforts them," Sanchez said.
Louie Gonzales was one of those neighbors.
"It sounded like a car that was gunning its engine, and not maybe two or three seconds later, heard the impact," he said.
Gonzales and a number of other neighbors said they saw several people get out of the suspect's car before reaching back inside to try and take things out of it. He told them the cops were coming.
"And he ignored me," Gonzales said. "I actually had to pull him out of the car and tell him to go sit down."
Another neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said he could smell the scent of alcohol on one of the people who got out of the vehicle.
The driver of that vehicle was taken to a nearby hospital, though West Covina police did not return a request for comment on whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash.
But some of the neighbors said they thing the car that hit Welsh might have been trying to race someone else, something they said happens all the time at the intersection.
"My brother has petitioned for a traffic signal, he's asked for speed bumps here," Gonzales said.
It was not immediately known what charges the driver might be facing or if police were searching for additional suspects.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family cover funeral costs and to set up a memorial fund in honor of the teen.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story identified Welsh as a 19-year-old based on information from a family friend. According to family members, Welsh was 18-years-old.