Ethan Tyler Braswell was supposed to walk across the stage at Hibriten High School on Wednesday night to receive his high school diploma.
Instead, his fellow students and teachers spent the day remembering the 17-year-old. The Hibriten High senior was killed in a traffic wreck Tuesday afternoon.
Students honored his memory by signing a huge scroll. They wore ribbons in his memory at graduation.
Braswell, of Boomer, was killed when the 1994 Toyota Camry he was driving was T-boned by a dump truck, said Master Trooper M.T. Stutts of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
The collision happened at about 1:30 p.m. when Braswell pulled out of the Wheeling Grocery into the path of a dump truck traveling westbound toward Lenoir, Stutts said.
Stutts said the truck, driven by James Cletus Laws, 50, of Lenoir, slammed into the driver's side of the car at about 45 mph — the posted speed limit.
Skid marks on the highway left by the dump truck indicate Laws attempted to avoid the collision, Stutts said.
Laws has not been charged in the wreck and Stutts said he does not anticipate any charges being filed.
News partner WSOC-TV Channel 9 contributed to this report.
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