A Seattle-based 18-year-old has been accused of causing the death of his friend and fellow Non Resident Indian teenager in a crash that resulted from an apparent road race.
News reports said the families of both the Indian-Americans were devastated following the crash in which Rishi Sodhi, 16, died.
Sukhneeth Singh Virk, one of Rishi's best friends, was put behind bars in the case described by police as road race, the King County Journal reported.
Rishi was the younger of the two sons of Virender and Rekha Sodhi. Mr Sodhi is a naturopath and Ayurvedic medicine practitioner.
According to the newspaper, both Rishi and Sukhneeth were students of Bellevue Community College.
The crash took place in the afternoon of January 25, when Rishi's red BMW lost control and hit two vehicles before bursting into flames, the newspaper quoted witnesses as saying.
According to police, witnesses tried unsuccessfully to rescue Rishi from the burning BMW.
Sukhneeth's vehicle was not involved in the accident. He said he watched the crash in the rearview mirror. When questioned by police whether he had been racing the BMW, Sukhneeth reportedly said "yes" He also asked whether Rishi was dead.
"He was one of those rare individuals who were able to meet people quickly and befriend them easily," the Sodhi family said in a statement. "He was an extremely bright and articulate young man whose curiosity led him to a vast variety of topics from science, politics, cars and music. He could make a convincing argument for almost any case." Sukhneeth is the son of Bellevue optometrist Sarbjit Singh Virk.
Court documents indicated that Sukhneeth cried and admitted to police that he had been involved in a car race with Rishi.
Sukhneeth, 18, was charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. He was freed from jail on the night of January 26, on a bail of 100,000 dollars.
The attorney representing the Virks, Gurjit S Pandher said his client Sukhneeth refuted the charges filed against him.
"Mr Virk (Sukhneeth) is a hard-working college student with substantial ties to the community," Mr Pandher told the newspaper.
