Victims of bridge accident all were teenagers

School had let out for the year. In the balmy darkness the following morning, three teenage friends zipped across the West Seattle Bridge, eager to dive into summer vacation.

It ended before it began.

Puttanapoong "Ball" Srisuthisuriya and Andrew Lam, both 17, of Seattle, and Dararith Sok, 18, of Portland, were killed in a fiery crash early Thursday when Srisuthisuriya's Toyota Scion slammed into a concrete barrier, rolled and burst into flames.

Srisuthisuriya and Lam, who would have started their senior year at Seattle's Franklin High School in September, had spent the evening with a group of close friends in South Seattle, said Lam's cousin, Megan Cho. The two left around 1 a.m. and must have gone somewhere to pick up Sok, a friend who once lived in Seattle before moving to Portland with his mom and sister.

At 2:47 a.m. Thursday, Seattle police received the first 911 call from a motorist who said there was a burning car overturned on the West Seattle Bridge. No one saw Srisuthisuriya's car smash into a concrete barrier, and accident investigators found no obvious signs of skid marks, Seattle police Sgt. Deanna Nollette said.

All three teens died before Seattle firefighters could extinguish the blaze.

Car parts and hunks of concrete and steel were strewn across three different roads, and the force of the impact pushed a concrete barrier into the middle of the bridge's eastbound lanes.

"There's so little physical evidence left because of the nature of the accident," Nollette said. "A lot of the evidence was consumed in the fire, which makes it more challenging to reconstruct" the chain of events.

On Friday, more than 200 people attended Srisuthisuriya's funeral in Columbia City, friends and family said. A Tuesday service is planned to remember Lam, a studious, responsible young man who was saving up to buy his own car.

Sok's family could not be reached for comment Friday.

Though Franklin High School has let out for the summer, a Seattle School District spokesman said counselors would be available Monday to students grieving the deaths.

"Fun to be around"

Ball Srisuthisuriya, a tall, lanky kid with a penchant for sunglasses and grilled oysters, dreamed of studying law and business at the University of Washington. His classmates remembered his humor and his signature look — a black beanie and long hair that fell down his back.

"He's a goofball, really silly and fun to be around," said Cho, 17, who was in the same class with Lam and Srisuthisuriya at Franklin.

Though he was an outgoing jokester who seemed always to be in a good mood, Srisuthisuriya was also ambitious and worked hard at school with "a drive that amazed everybody," said another friend, Hieu Nguyen, 17.

"He was the one who kept everyone else up," Nguyen said. Srisuthisuriya wanted to be a role model for younger kids in his community and show them that "just because we live down south near the bad neighborhoods, that doesn't mean anything — we can still get that high-school diploma and we can still make something of ourselves."

Nguyen, who knew all three victims, said, "It's hard to call them only friends because we're thicker than blood. We're family around here."

After Srisuthisuriya's funeral, his family and friends gathered for a barbecue at his South Seattle home.

"We're just barbecuing for him. It was one of his favorite things, so why not do it?" his brother, Gift Srisuthisuriya, 19, said. "He was there for everybody when they needed him."

He is survived by his parents, three brothers and two sisters.

"A real team player"

Andrew Lam had a passion for basketball and loved playing in the high-school league run by the Seattle Chinese Athletic Association. A league player since he was in eighth grade, Lam brought his good friend Srisuthisuriya onto his team this year, said his former coach, R.J. Delos Reyes, 24.

"He was a very willing learner and always tried to put a positive spin on things," Delos Reyes said. "He was really energetic and positive and playful. He was a good ball player and a real team player."

Though Lam spent much of this season on the bench because of an injury, he was determined to play again soon, he said.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Lam, who worked an after-school job at the small Washington Mutual bank branch in Uwajimaya Village in Seattle's Chinatown International District, was a finance whiz who also enjoyed history class, said Cho, his cousin.

One night as he was getting off work, Lam saw a homeless man help a little kid up after the child had fallen in the street, Cho said.

"He wanted to thank the homeless guy and was searching for $5, but he didn't have anything smaller than a 20, so he handed the homeless guy $20," she said.

Of all her cousins, Cho said, Lam "was the most responsible one and he respected his mom so much." No matter where he was, "he'd call to let his mother know where he was."

"When he didn't call that night, they knew something was wrong," she said.

Lam's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Bonney-Watson Funeral Home, 1732 Broadway.

He is survived by his parents, Lam Sing Ping and Lam Yim Wun, his sister, Jenny Lam, his maternal grandparents and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins, all of Seattle.

Seattle Times reporters Charlotte Hsu, Jonathan Martin, Emily Heffter and Joe Mullin and Seattle Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com