BOSTON (WHDH) - An 18-year-old was killed and a girl was injured in a violent crash that split a car in half, shut down part of Route 1A, and knocked out power to thousands of residents in East Boston on Wednesday night, officials said.
Officers responding to a report of a crash on the southbound side of McClellan Highway just after 8 p.m. found a mangled car wrapped around a utility pole, according to the Boston Police Department.
Jonathan Hernandez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hernandez’s friends and family have turned the crash site along the route into a memorial where dozens have stopped to grieve and remember him.
“Always there for you, he had your back,” Hernandez’s best friend Dariun Mejia said. “He was there to hug no matter what.”
They say Hernandez loved to be behind the wheel.
“He loved cars that his passion,” one friend said. “He loved racing cars,”
A preliminary investigation indicated that the vehicle careened into the pole after colliding with another vehicle, according to police. The second vehicle then struck a guardrail.
Speed clearly a factor, though police have not said if the two vehicles were racing.
His best friend, who calls Hernandez his brother said he channeled his love for cars into his work as a tow driver.
Even he cannot explain why his friend was driving so fast.
“He was always careful, here, yea when it was safe, but not like that,” he said.
Those who live in the area said they often see and hear cars racing when the traffic clears and the road is empty.
“All hours of the night, people are racing and flying, it’s very dangerous,” resident Ali Otis said.
Hernandez’s friends say his 16-year-old girlfriend was a passenger in the car and remains hospitalized.
“That’s God right there, I’m not really a believer but that is God right there,” Mejia said. “I wish he was with my little brother.”
They said he did know the driver of the other vehicle that was involved in the crash.
A GoFundMe has been created to help pay for the cost of his funeral services.
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