Classmates Mourn Teen Killed In Early Morning Crash
SAN MATEO (CBS SF) -- Students at Junipero Serra High Wednesday mourned a 17-year-old classmate who died in an early morning accident on his way to school.
The California Highway Patrol said Blake Bottarini of Redwood City died in a crash on Monday after driving off the road on state Highway 35 and striking a tree in unincorporated San Mateo County.
Bottarini had left La Honda early in the morning and was on his way to school at the time of the crash.
He a senior at Serra High, according to the school's administrators, who said in a letter on social media that he will be remembered as a "kind and caring young man."
Administrators asked the school community to pray for his mother, father and twin brother.
Bottarini was driving his Toyota Tacoma truck north on Highway 35, also known as Skyline Boulevard, when he veered off the east side of the road and hit a tree, according to the CHP. The truck then fell about 45 feet down an embankment and came to rest on its side.
A San Mateo County sheriff's deputy found the truck, which wasn't visible from the road, and reported the crash to the CHP at about 12:50 p.m. Bottarini was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers said the investigation was ongoing but it doesn't appear drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.