FORKS — Garrett L. Dulin was to have started the 2023-24 school year on Tuesday at Forks High School. But the 16-year-old was killed Saturday night in a one-vehicle wreck south of Forks.
He was the son of Jess Dulin and Renee Reed.
Pastor Ryan Watson of the Forks Assembly of God said the church invited young people to attend a 6 p.m. service on Sunday as soon as he heard about the collision.
“In light of what happened, we wanted to make ourselves available,” Watson said. “This is a small community and it is grieving.”
More than 100 people attended a candlelight vigil for Dulin on Monday night at Forks High School’s Duncan Field, according to the Forks Forum.
Forks High School students are encouraged to stop by the school’s support center to talk to a district counselor or someone with the Olympic Education Service Center Crisis Team, Superintendent Diana Reaume wrote in an email.
The district also will allow parents to check out students from class if they would prefer to arrange for support from a different entity.
“I know the whole school community is grieving the loss of Garrett,” Reaume said. “He was such a big part of our school and community, as well as loved by all.”
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Port Hadlock received a call at 6:55 p.m. Saturday from a 17-year-old male passenger in Dulin’s vehicle. It immediately dispatched a deputy, Life Flight and Clallam County Fire District No. 1 to the scene. They arrived about an hour later.
Darkness and the remoteness of the collision scene on a gravel spur off the Hoh Mainline near milepost 21 and Clearwater Road made locating it challenging, said Detective Sgt. Brett Anglin of the sheriff’s office.
Dulin was ejected from the 1999 Toyota pickup he was driving and pronounced dead at the scene after the emergency responders attempted life-saving measures, according to the sheriff’s office. He had suffered significant trauma and was unconscious when they arrived.
Dulin was not wearing his seatbelt, according to the sheriff’s office. The passenger, who had been wearing a seatbelt, was not seriously injured, Anglin said.
Anglin said evidence at the scene and of the vehicle suggested Dulin had lost control of his pickup when he was driving in reverse at a high rate of speed, causing it to roll several times.
“Vehicles are unstable going in reverse,” Anglin said. “It was driven beyond what is considered a typical safe manner.”
A request for alcohol and drug testing will be submitted to the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory, Anglin said. The turnaround time for a toxicology death investigation is about 45 days, said Washington State Patrol spokesperson Chris Loftis.
The wreck remains under investigation.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@soundpublishing.com.
