Friends of an ASU student who died this weekend in a motorcycle accident gathered Monday night to hold a candlelight vigil.
Bioengineering sophomore Matthew West, 19, died after he crashed his motorcycle into an existing wreck on University Drive at 3:15 a.m. Saturday in Tempe, according to Tempe Police.
West’s friends placed candles around a sign that read “R.I.P. Matt West” and wrote messages on the sidewalk in memory of their friend.
Business management sophomore Jeff Taylor said he considered West to be a part of his family.
“He was the best friend I had, the smartest guy I knew,” Taylor said.
One of Matt’s friends from church, Marie Florez, said she lost a friend with the potential to be a great doctor.
“He would probably have been the one to come up with a cure for cancer,” Florez said.
West’s father, Michael, said in a phone interview that his son would be missed.
“This left a tremendous hole in our hearts that we will never ever get over,” Michael West said.
He added that his son loved his time at ASU and had showed tremendous potential as a student.
“Who knows what he could have done,” Michael West said.
The three-vehicle collision started when a teenage driver, whom police suspect was drunk, slammed a Ford Expedition into a white Chevrolet Caprice. This collision killed the passenger in the Caprice, Abay Lattin, a member of the hip-hop duo Silver Medallion, said Sgt. Steve Carbajal of Tempe Police.
The 17-year-old driver left the Quadrangles apartment complex on University Drive near Dorsey Lane and hit the Caprice, which was traveling east, he said.
Witnesses reported West’s motorcycle hit the right front corner of the Caprice about a minute after the initial crash, Carbajal said.
Lattin died at the scene. West, a resident of Glendale, died later at a local hospital, Carbajal said.
The driver of the Chevrolet Caprice and the passenger of the Ford Expedition were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, Carbajal said.
The 17-year-old driver of the Expedition is facing charges of manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault.
There will be a memorial service for West on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., and the funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday. Both events will take place at First Christian Church, which is located at 6750 7th Ave. in Phoenix.
Reach the reporter at mary.shinn@asu.edu
