IRVINE : 3rd Recent Traffic Death Stuns College

Irvine Valley College students were shocked Thursday to learn of classmate Nicholas Sandoval’s death in a traffic accident. Sandoval, 21, a well-liked honors student and college newspaper sports editor, died Wednesday after a car struck the bicycle he was riding shortly after 6 p.m.

Sandoval was the third student of the small community college to be killed in a traffic accident in the last six weeks.

“To have three of our students gone in such a short period of time--it’s all pretty devastating,” said college spokesman George McCrory.

On Sept. 28, Irvine resident Michael James Castenada, 19, died after he was struck by a car shortly after 10 p.m. while running across the Santa Ana Freeway.

Tuesday night, Laguna Hills resident John Michael McGlone, 19, died after his car collided with a truck on the Santa Ana Freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Sandoval, an Irvine resident who came to the United States four years ago from Bogota, Colombia, was struck when he rode in front of a car on East Yale Loop, according to Irvine police.

Staff members of the small campus newspaper where Sandoval was known as a jack-of-all-trades said he could never do enough for his friends. “He was such a great guy; he always put others ahead of himself,” said student editor Corey Grice. “It’s so unfair that someone so nice has to go so soon.”

Sandoval was also vice president of the campus honors society.

Sandoval’s family flew in from Colombia on Thursday to arrange for the scattering of his ashes at sea off Newport Beach in a memorial service planned for Tuesday. “He was the best son a father could have,” said Victor Sandoval, fighting back tears as he waited to meet with Irvine police late Thursday. “He was the best.”