Friends recall Marine, 3 others killed in Parkway crash
TOMS RIVER, N.J. » Friends are recalling two brothers and two friends in their early 20s who died in a crash on a major New Jersey highway early Wednesday.
A car driven by 21-year-old Kevin Quispe-Prieto slammed into the back of a tanker truck in the southbound lanes in Toms River on the Garden State Parkway, which stretches from north to south down the entire state. Quispe-Prieto was killed along with his older brother, Jimmy, and friends Victor Lugo and Robert Ordenana.
The crash is under investigation. The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries.
Friends of the brothers told the Asbury Park Press that Kevin Quispe-Prieto, of Beachwood, had worked six or seven days a week over the summer and in between taking classes at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and Ocean County College to save up enough money to buy the white Infinity G37 sedan that was involved in the crash.
Co-workers at the family-owned pool store where Quispe-Prieto worked remembered him stopping at work on his day off to show off the car.
They said he was a friendly employee who was proud to serve as translator for Spanish-speaking customers and wanted to study computer science. He had come to the U.S. from Peru with his family as a young child, the newspaper reported. Other friends remembered Jimmy Quispe-Prieto as friendly and kind-hearted.
Ordenana, 23, had served in the Marines and posted pictures of himself in Europe and Africa on social media. Lugo worked at the Lakewood Department of Public Works and wanted to become a police officer, a career his stepfather had pursued. Lugo had played baseball for Lakewood High School as a pitcher and third basemen.
A candlelight vigil for Lugo and Ordenana was scheduled for Sunday in Lakewood. A viewing followed by a memorial service for Lugo was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Sunday.