PITTSBURGH — Family and friends are mourning a 19-year-old Carlow University student who died following a crash Friday night on Interstate 279.
Sirey Ramos was a second-year nursing student at Carlow University and dreamed of becoming a nurse practitioner.
Ramos was riding with two friends when their car crashed near the East Street exit around 8 p.m., according to Pennsylvania State Police.
One of those friends, Syleidy Mendez, survived the crash.
She said she is still struggling to process the loss of someone who made her feel seen, supported and safe.
“Just really sweet,” Mendez said. “She was cautious with how she acted. She carefully thought about everything.”
Mendez met Ramos last fall.
Although they had known each other for a little more than a year, Mendez said their friendship felt lifelong.
Ramos quickly became someone she admired and turned to whenever she felt alone.
“Sirey, she was my comfort spot,” Mendez said. “When I felt out of place, like I couldn’t speak to anyone, I’d run to her.”
On Friday, Ramos initially planned to take a bus to Ross Park Mall.
Mendez said she suggested Ramos ride with her and another friend, who was driving, because they were all headed to the same place.
The friends spent the afternoon shopping for tops to wear during a planned night out Saturday.
While inside the mall, Mendez spotted a mirror and persuaded Ramos to stop for a picture.
“I told her, ‘Come here, come here, this is a nice mirror. We have to take a picture,’ and she just laughed,” Mendez recalled.
That photograph is now one of Mendez’s final memories with her friend.
There’s not much Mendez said she remembers.
“We were singing so, so loud while the wind just blew on our faces, and everything went dark,” she said. “I don’t remember.”
Mendez told Channel 11 that after the crash, she repeatedly questioned Ramos’ whereabouts.
She later learned her friend died at a hospital from her injuries.
“I was asking, ‘Where is Sirey?’ And he just told me she was gone,” Mendez said. “And I was like, ‘Please, where is she?’”
Now, Mendez hopes people remember Ramos for the compassion she showed others and the sense of comfort she gave the people closest to her.
State Police say the manner of death was deemed an accident.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support Raydos’ family. Click here if you would like to donate.
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