Friends of an ASU freshman killed in a four-vehicle car crash in Phoenix on Wednesday night remembered her as a cheerful person.
Nora Risha was ejected from her family’s van in the crash, Phoenix Police Detective Tony Morales said. The van was traveling eastbound on Cactus Road when it was struck by a silver Nissan going northbound on 43rd Avenue.
The collision caused the van to rotate violently, Morales said. Risha was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
Risha, a graduate of McClintock High School in Tempe, was a fine art and design freshman who started at ASU in August.
Risha’s friend and classmate from McClintock, economics freshman Bryce Browning described Risha as intelligent, opinionated and a loyal friend.
“She was trustworthy, for sure,” Browning said. “You could always count on her to do the right thing.”
Communications sophomore Yasmine Asfoor said she met Risha six years ago through mutual friends, and they had been close to each other ever since then.
She said she and Risha were actively involved in Muslim student associations together in high school and college.
Asfoor said she would remember Risha for her kindness and cheerful demeanor.
“She was a genuinely nice person,” Asfoor said. “There was not an ounce of bad in her … She was always smiling, always wanting to help people.”
The driver of the Nissan that hit the van, 43-year-old Armando Garcia Jacobo Jr., was arrested at about 8 p.m. Thursday after being released from John C. Lincoln Hospital, where he had been treated for minor back injuries.
Jacobo was booked into Madison Street Jail on one count of second-degree murder and seven counts of aggravated assault, Morales said.
According to witnesses, Jacobo ran a red light, Morales said. He said police believe Jacobo was intoxicated at the time of the accident.
Two young girls in the van at the time, ages 14 and 16, were also injured in the accident, Morales said.
One of the girls is in critical condition and the other is currently in serious condition, he said. Both are expected to survive.
Morales said drivers of the other vehicles suffered only minor injuries.
Morales said he could not provide information on the two other vehicles involved in the crash.
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
