WEDDINGTON, N.C.,None — Students are spreading a message of safety after a Union County teen died in a car crash.
Riley Laymon, 17, was killed Friday night after the truck he was riding in lost control and flipped on Antioch Church Road in Weddington.
Troopers said Laymon and three of the other teens in the truck were not wearing seatbelts during the crash.
"I don't think I'll ever come to grips with the situation. He was a friend to all of us, a family member to all of us," said close friend Grayson Pohs.
Pohs and another friend, Trevor Woodworth, returned to a small memorial in the parking lot of Weddington High School on Monday afternoon.
It is one of several small memorials set up in the area to honor Laymon. A visitation was held Monday night at Laymon's church, Elevation, in Matthews.
Laymon's friends described him as an avid fisherman who loved his church and often brought smiles to his friends' faces.
He and the four other teens in the truck were on their way to get a pizza before the crash.
Laymon's friends are now begging other classmates to buckle up before they drive, telling everyone the accident could have been avoided.
"Definitely really hard to think that if for that one second, he had stopped to put it on, he might still be here by now," Pohs said.
The 17-year-old driver of the truck, Robert "Trey" Cook, has been charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.
Troopers said he will also lose his license for a year, because he was driving on a restricted license and only allowed to have one other teen riding with him.