SEQUIM — The teenager killed when he swerved his new pickup truck to miss a deer was identified Monday as Sequim High School student Tyler Braithwaite.
Braithwaite, 17, was killed Sunday afternoon while driving the Ford F-250 pickup his dad had recently bought for him on a muddy U.S. Forest Service road south of Sequim.
The truck, which carried two other teens, crashed into a tree near the Slab Camp area of Olympic National Forest.
Braithwaite is the son of Tammy Sullenger, administrative assistant to the Clallam County commissioners, and Henry Braithwaite of Forks.
Rachel Myers, 18, a Port Angeles High School senior, was riding in the center seat and suffered leg and facial injuries. She was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and was listed in satisfactory condition Monday.
Michael Fleming, 16, a Sequim High School sophomore, was in the passenger seat and suffered a broken wrist and facial cuts and was taken to Olympic Medical Center.
His condition was not available because his name was not in the hospital’s computer system, said spokeswoman Bobbi Beaman. That could mean he was either treated and discharged or was not admitted.
A junior at Sequim High School, Braithwaite was passionate about hunting and fishing — and especially his grandfather’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle, his father said.
“He was the best kid you could ever ask for,” Henry Braithwaite said.
“He loved to ride his late grandfather’s Harley with me. That was one of the big things for us that was a me-and-him thing.
“He and me and my brothers rode them like a band of brothers. “They all really respected him.”
Tyler Braithwaite’s grandfather, Leon Roger Braithwaite, died in December in a truck wreck near Lake Crescent.
Henry Braithwaite said his son, who has no brothers or sisters, was familiar with the hills south of Sequim and had driven around on the back roads many times.
Sequim School District Superintendent Bill Bentley said the district is on spring break, but counselors will be available for students next week.
“He was very involved in our skills center automotive program,” Bentley said of young Braithwaite. “We are so very saddened by this very tragic loss.
“We are certainly very sympathetic to what the family is going through.”
Superintendent Jane Pryne of the Port Angeles School District, which is in session, said counselors were available Monday for students because many of the students knew the three involved in the crash.
“We have counseling available and are dealing with students on an individual basis,” she said.
“It is such a tragedy when something like this happens to someone so young.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
