The Pleasanton community came together to remember a family of four killed in a fiery crash Wednesday night.
A memorial, organized by friends and community members, took place at Val Vista Park in Pleasanton on Sunday. NBC Bay Area crews counted roughly 200 people in attendance, including neighbors, elementary school and middle school classmates, parents, many school staff members, and the Donlon Elementary School principal.
Those at the memorial identified the victims as Tarun and Rincy George, their two children Rowan George, who was in eighth grade at Hart Middle School, and Aaron George, a second grader at Donlon Elementary School.
The Alameda County Coroner has yet to release the identities of the people killed in the crash as they are still trying to notify next-of-kin.
The family was driving in an electric car going southbound on Foothill Road near Stoneridge Drive at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. Police said the driver appeared to have lost control and collided with a large oak tree, then the car burst into flames.
Police identified the vehicle as a VinFast electric car, but they did not immediately say which model. Police said that speed may have been a factor in the crash, but their investigation is still ongoing.
“I still can’t believe -- nobody can believe that they’re gone,” said Pleasanton resident Dipti Rawat.
Rawat said she has been friends with the George family for years and that Aaron was her son’s best friend.
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“He called my son just two hours before it all happened,” Rawat said, wiping tears from her eyes.
Rawat said that her son has been struggling with the loss of his best friend. Rawat remembers Aaron as a “sweet kid” and a “daring kid” who liked skiing and dirt biking and playing Fortnite.
Rawat said that Tarun and Rincy George’s families are in India, where a relative is traveling to break the difficult news to them in person.
“Because she couldn’t do it on the phone, right? How could she say, 'The whole family is gone'?” Rawat said through tears.
At the memorial, parents held their children, students consoled one another and loved ones shared memories of the George family.
“I came out here because I knew Rowan, he was a great friend of mine,” said 13-year-old Krish Bhaliya of Mountain House.
Bhaliya, who used to live in Pleasanton, said he had been friends with Rowan since fourth grade and that the two still did Taekwondo together each week.
“It’s tragic, really, because I was with him the day before at class, so we were just talking and the next day he was just gone,” Bhaliya said.
He remembers Rowan as “always happy, he was very kind, he was very genuine, he was a great person overall.”
Bhaliya’s mother, Nita Bhaliya, said she is still in shock from the loss.
“The family was very kind, social, and they were always happy to help people,” she said of the George family.
Many at the memorial said they were struggling to understand how this tragedy could have happened and how to move forward.
“I hope they rest in peace, and they will be alive in our memories forever,” Dipti Rawat said.
At the crash site on Foothill Road, charred debris and bits of the vehicle were still on the ground.
Flowers from the memorial as well as a sign with notes to the George family have been left at the scene on the oak tree that was burned in the crash.
