Snohomish Freshman Killed In Crash; Car Was Taken Without Permission

EVERETT - As school began at the Snohomish Freshman Campus yesterday, many students did not know their 14-year-old classmate, Natasha Scott, had died in a car accident about five hours earlier.

But the news spread quickly, and this morning counselors were talking with students and trying to console them.

Scott was killed and two other students seriously injured when the 1988 station wagon they were traveling in with two other Snohomish teenagers went out of control and slammed into a parked sport-utility vehicle about 3 a.m. on East Lowell-Larimer Road in Everett, police said.

The car apparently had been taken without permission from the home of two brothers, 13 and 14, who were riding in the vehicle, Everett Police spokesman Elliott Woodall said.

The driver, a 15-year-old boy whom police did not identify, was found at the scene of the accident, unhurt and walking around, Woodall said. Brian Monge, 14, was also walking around. Both were treated at the scene and released, Woodall said.

James Monge, 13, who was pinned in the overturned vehicle, was rescued a short time later and taken to Providence General Medical Center in Everett, where he was in serious condition this morning.

Joe Henry, a student at Valley View Middle School, said he has known James Monge since they were in elementary school.

"He was a good kid. We hope he is OK," Henry said outside the school yesterday.

Scott and another 15-year-old girl were ejected from the vehicle. Scott died at the scene. The other girl, Jessica Elzea, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was in serious condition this morning.

The station wagon, which apparently was speeding when it missed a curve, went out of control for 200 yards before it went off the road, hitting the parked truck, Woodall said.

Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau reporter Stephen Clutter contributed to this report.