Rick was killed while visiting another friend from our group who goes to PSU. More of us were invited to be there, but we lived farther away and none of us were up to driving that far. In the past day I've wondered about a thousand times if my being there could have prevented something. I just don't know.
What that article doen't tell you is that the friend he was visiting was standing 2 feet away from the accident as it happened, and one second later it would have been him killed. At the moment he is completely traumatized, a few of us have grouped up here at my apartment in Virginia to make our way back today to talk to him. He was the one who called me yesterday morning to tell me about Rick, and the only thing I could think the whole time was "This is some sick, twisted, not-funny-at-all joke".
Although Rick was an highly opinionated guy who got under everyone's skin from time-to-time (myself included), he was still someone to be respected. He geniunely cared about other people, especially his friends. He was there at a moment's notice when anyone needed them, and he was always ready to listen when one of us needed to blow off steam. His apartment was where we all went to hang out and relax, or hide from our parents when we couldn't take home anymore (I did that myself a couple times) and he always took us in without a single question for as long as we needed. That's just the kind of guy he was - he really did his best to be a good friend.
If you take nothing else away from this tragedy, at least take this: don't drive drunk. Ever. Walk home, call a friend, sleep in your backseat, whatever. Just please don't drive.
Rick is the one on the right with the orange shirt (I'm on the left):
RickAndDemetri.jpg
Edit: One of just him:
Rick.jpg
R.I.P. Rick, I'm sorry I wasn't as good a friend to you as you were to me.