Memorial bench and community garden honor 6 victims killed in fiery Windsor Hills crash
WINDSOR HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A memorial bench and community garden were dedicated Friday at a ceremony honoring the six victims of a deadly crash at an intersection in Windsor Hills.
The dedication was held one year to the day after the fiery collision occurred at the intersection of Slauson and La Brea avenues, where a driver sped through a red light and slammed into the victims' vehicles. The collision was captured on dramatic surveillance video.
The deceased included 23-year-old Asherey Ryan of Los Angeles, who was pregnant at the time with her unborn son, named Armani Lester. Her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero was also killed, along with Ryan's boyfriend, Reynold Lester. Also killed in the crash were Nathesia Lewis, 43, and her friend, 38- year-old Lynette Noble, who were in another car.
After the impact, the suspect's Mercedes-Benz erupted in flames and came to a stop near a Rocket gas station at the intersection.
The owners of the gas station later donated the space for the permanent installation of the memorial bench and garden. The bench includes likenesses of the six deceased victims, including an ultrasound of Armani Lester.
"I'm going to be honest, I've always avoided this area because every time I drive past here, I break down and I cry," Shaseana Kerr, Asherey Ryan's sister, said at Friday's ceremony. "But now that we have this memorial, I now have a reason to come back over here."
Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell also spoke at the dedication.
"This memorial gives us a place to, if you will, lay down the burden, to honor them," she said. "But it gives us a place to come to, to reflect and think about not only those six lives lost -- and what their futures could have been -- but what responsibility each of us individually have to make sure all of our communities are safe."
A traveling nurse from Texas, Nicole Lorraine Linton, survived the crash with moderate injuries and was charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Linton was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on the day of the crash and remains jailed without bail. She is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Sept. 12. A date is scheduled to be set then for a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to require her to stand trial.
City News Service contributed to this report.
