Friends from Phoenix Horizon High meet tragedy on post-graduation road trip

Four teens who had traveled to California on a post-graduation road trip to see Major League Baseball met with tragedy shortly after crossing back into Arizona.

Joseph Smith, 18, one of the recent Phoenix Horizon High School graduates, was killed and three others were seriously injured in a crash early Friday morning near Quartzsite.

A 74-year-old man also was killed in the wreck.

Smith, Daniel “DJ” Purcell, Matthew West and Kevin Hurley, all 18, were known at Horizon as best friends. They traveled to California together to see all five of the state's major-league teams play, also stopping for a day in Disneyland.

Hundreds of people have donated more than $33,000 for the teens and their families, with many more gathering around the family in a community of support and generosity.

Horizon will host a public celebration of Smith’s life at 10 a.m. Monday, June 27, in the auditorium, according to a message from Smith’s mother posted across social media. Guests were asked to bring flowers to the event.

An outpouring of support 

One GoFundMe account, for Smith's funeral expenses, raised more than $16,000 in two days.

That page is now asking for people to donate to a second account, to cover medical expenses for the three survivors, which has already raised more than $17,000.

"It’s been absolutely incredible," said Makenna Miller, 17, of Scottsdale, who created the GoFundMe accounts. The teen's families "have just been absolutely astonished by it," she said.

She also created a Facebook group called "Horizon Friends In Need" with more than 400 people to support the teens and their families, and MealTrain.com accounts for at least two of the families, for people to provide food for the teens' family members.

For Father's Day on Sunday, volunteers brought chicken, mashed potatoes and cornbread to Smith's family in Phoenix.

West's girlfriend, Lauren Lippman, 17, of Scottsdale, said the three are recovering and are grateful for the support of their community.

"The boys are doing well," Lippman said. "They’re going to recover. They’ve gotten many many visitors every single day. Everyone has been beyond kind and helpful."

Lippman said many of the people who have donated to the account aren't known to the families and she thanked them for helping strangers in need.

A deadly crash near the California border

Sometime before 2:23 a.m. Friday, a semi-truck hit an abandoned vehicle parked on the side of the road on eastbound Interstate 10 about 10 miles east of Quartzsite, according to Quentin Mehr, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman.

Traffic began to slow because of that crash and, just before troopers arrived around 3:10 a.m., another semi that failed to slow down hit a GMC Sierra from behind, killing Joseph Garcia, 74, and injuring the driver, Mary Lou Garcia, both from Sun City, Mehr said in a statement.

The second semi then hit a Honda Civic, forcing it into the rear of a flatbed trailer, killing Smith, and injuring the driver, Purcell, and passengers West and Hurley, Mehr said.

The four injured people were flown from the scene. All the victims were about two hours away from their homes.

Smith was 'the happiest, most typical American kid'

Christian Cuffari, 18, said he had been friends with Smith since they were about 7 years old.

"We were both outgoing kids, we both had a lot to say in the classroom and everywhere else. We just bonded at a young age and have stayed bonded," Cuffari said. "He was the happiest, most typical American kid. He made everyone so happy."

Cuffari left an American flag, a poster and a photo of them together at a memorial honoring Smith set up outside Horizon on Greenway Road.

The flag is "the perfect symbol to represent who Joe was," he said. Smith planned to go to college in Nebraska, close to the hay balers he used to watch for hours as a young child.

"He’s just a very friendly person. You would never really catch him mad," Cuffari said.

Smith enjoyed sports and played hockey for the Horizon Huskies hockey team, which won the Division II state championships in February.

"Joe was a great kid, always smiling, always supporting his school and friends. He was well known and liked at Horizon for all the right reasons," said Michael Patterson, assistant football coach at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, who coached Smith and Purcell in freshman football.

The three surviving teens have extensive injuries but no brain damage, and have been awake in a hospital in Goodyear, according to Cuffari and Miller.

No information about the other victim, Joseph Garcia, was immediately available.

Includes information from Republic reporter Adrian Hedden. Editor's note: Earlier versions of the story listed other people as the drivers of the Civic and Sierra.