SUV hits 4 students near Bellingham, Washington, killing 2

Police stand near the scene where a vehicle hit a group of students who were walking on a sidewalk as part of a school physical education exercise, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, near Bellingham, Wash. Two of the students were killed, and Washington State Trooper Mark Francis said the driver of the vehicle was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. (Philip Dwyer/The Bellingham Herald via AP) Police stand near the scene where a vehicle hit a group of students who were walking on a sidewalk as part of a school physical education exercise, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, near Bellingham, Wash. Two of the students were killed, and Washington State Trooper Mark Francis said the driver of the vehicle was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. (Philip Dwyer/The Bellingham Herald via AP)

By Associated Press June 11, 2015 2 min read

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) – An SUV jumped a curb and plowed into a group of Washington state high school students out for a gym class walk on Wednesday, killing two boys and seriously injuring two others, the Washington State Patrol said.

About 30 students from Windward High School in Ferndale, north of Bellingham, were out walking with a teacher along a sidewalk when the vehicle left the road and hit the four teens, Trooper Mark Francis said.

The 34-year-old driver, who had his 3-year-old son in the vehicle with him, was arrested. Neither he nor his son was hurt. The man initially said he fell asleep at the wheel but later acknowledged he had used drugs, Francis said.

Some classmates walking behind those who were struck watched the crash happen, Francis said.

“Just heard just the worst yell – just, ‘No! No! No!'” Shelley Hardt, who was working nearby, told KOMO-TV. “You knew that something really, really bad had happened. So I ran outside as fast as I could.”