PEORIA, AZ — One student died and three others remain hospitalized following a two-vehicle crash in Peoria on Tuesday afternoon.
Peoria police officers responded to the crash near Happy Valley Road and Lake Pleasant Parkway. Officials said one vehicle was occupied by five students from Basis Peoria, a charter school.
Four of the students were taken to a hospital with critical injuries, where one later died. As of Friday afternoon, police say two of the injured students are in stable condition while the third remains in critical condition.
Police said the student who died and the student in critical condition were wearing seatbelts during the crash.
Officials have not provided the names or ages of the students.
Family and friends have identified the boy who died in the crash as 17-year-old Saarth Korpe. Korpe and the other students had attended BASIS Peoria.
In speaking with several people who knew and loved Saarth, they described him as compassionate, empathetic and loyal.
“He was on a different level of being so compassionate. This drive to help other people, you can just feel it in every action he took and the way he spoke to people,” his sister, Sara, told ABC15.
His best friend, Anay, told ABC15 he was intelligent and just knew how to read people.
"He was smart, book smart, obviously, but he was smart in other ways. I think he was really emotionally intelligent,” Andy said.
His former teacher, Katelyn Ainslie, saw those same qualities in him, too.
“[He] was always full of energy and an incredible storyteller. He always knew how to make people feel welcomed,” Ainslie said.
Most of all, those who loved him said he always wanted to help people. Sara said the two of them would often talk about opening free clinics to help people in rural areas. Saarth wanted to be a radiation oncologist one day.
To help fulfill his dreams in wanting to help others, the family and Anay set up a GoFundMe, wanting proceeds to not go to his funeral services, but to help support educational and medical services for children in rural communities.
“I want to carry forward his memory through that so kids can grow up and be like him,” Sara said. "He wanted to be a doctor… He would’ve been a really good one, too, but that’s what he wanted to do.”
The driver of the second vehicle was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to officials, the car occupied by the minors was traveling southbound on Lake Pleasant Parkway when the other driver made a left turn, causing the crash. Both drivers remained at the scene and are cooperating with the investigation.
Impairment does not appear to be a factor, police said.
