Anatomy Of A Stupid.

Scores of grieving students excused from school
hovered for most of the day around the charred site at Brand Road and
Muirfield Drive, where the three popular classmates died the night
before in a fiery accident.

"They were three seniors with
seven weeks left until graduation," Garland High principal John Morris
said. "What a tragedy."

School officials identified two
of the victims as Raheed Salam, 17, the driver, and Shane Petroski, 18.
The third boy’s family identified him as Alex Manriquez, also 18.

                                             

Raheed Salam (left), Alex Manriquez (center) and Shane Petroski were
identified as the crash victims.

      

Mr. Morris said they were top students. Raheed was in the International
Baccalaureate program and on the tennis team. The other boys both took
Advanced Placement courses. All belonged to Key Club, an academic group
that teaches leadership and service.

Witnesses told
police that the youths, who had just attended a school band concert at
the Plaza Theatre in downtown Garland, were traveling northeast on
Brand Road in a 2004 Toyota Camry about 9:30 p.m. Thursday when the
driver apparently tried to turn left onto Muirfield and clipped a small
pickup stopped at the intersection. Alex’s father, Phillip Manriquez,
said the three were probably headed to either Shane’s or Raheed’s house
to go running together.

The car slid sideways into the
curb, then hit the wall at the subdivision entryway. Police said the
vehicle apparently was going too fast to make the turn, although the
speed hadn’t been determined.

Leanh Dang, who lives
across Muirfield from the scene, said she heard the screeching tires,
then a loud boom, and ran outside to see a flash of fire quickly engulf
the car.

       "Someone tried to help," she said. "He couldn’t help. The fire was too much."   

Andrew Olson, 39, of Garland said he was driving by when he saw the car
slam into the wall and burst into flames.

"I immediately ran to the car and realized someone was in there and
most likely unconscious," Mr. Olson said. "I only saw one person in the
car, and I tried to pull him out, but I had a problem getting the door
open. I kept having to step away because of the heat. It was horrible."