ENCINITAS -- A teenage driver from San Dieguito Academy struck and fatally injured another teenage student during the school's lunch break Wednesday, authorities said.

Ryan Hwang, 14, of Carlsbad, was taken to nearby Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas, where he died, a medical examiner's investigator said.

The crash happened at 11:47 a.m. after a 17-year-old driver, whose name was not released because he is a minor, exited from the southbound offramp of Interstate 5 at Santa Fe Drive and accelerated too fast, Sheriff's Sgt. Randy Webb said.

The 2006 red Nissan Frontier pickup struck Hwang, who was on the south side of the road, and briefly pinned him against a column supporting the freeway bridge that crosses Santa Fe Drive.

Three nurses that were going to work came upon the crash and stopped to try to administer aid to the gravely injured Hwang before paramedics arrived, Webb said.

He had a faint pulse and was still breathing at the scene. He was taken to the nearby hospital where a Mercy Air helicopter was set to fly him to a trauma hospital before he died.

Hwang is survived by his mother, Patty Hwang, and a brother, a medical examiner's investigator said.

There are no sidewalks beneath the bridge on the south side of the road where the boy was walking with friends to get back to the campus.

"I'm never walking on that side of the road again," said Andy Dunn, 15, who talked about the crash after school on Wednesday. "It could have been anyone."

The 17-year-old driver, and a teenage passenger were not hurt. Webb added that the driver was legally able to transport minor passengers because he had been driving for 21 months and had passed the restriction phase on his license.

The sergeant said the scene was very emotional as other students came upon the crash. The vice principal from San Dieguito Academy was there within minutes and called for counselors to deal with the grief-stricken students at the campus.

The driver's parents then picked him up at the school, Webb said. Deputies will forward their case and recommendations to the district attorney who will decide whether to file charges against the teenager.

Four blocks east of the accident site is San Dieguito Academy, a public high school. During their lunch break, many students take advantage of an "open campus" policy and walk to stores and restaurants near the freeway.

"It's an open campus for lunch," said San Dieguito Union High School District Superintendent Peggy Lynch. "Parents are informed about that in the beginning."

The open campus has existed for 10 years, she said, ever since the school on Santa Fe Drive reinvented itself as a magnet school open to any student in the San Dieguito district.

Psychologists and counselors will be available at the school today to speak with students, their family members, teachers, or anyone else who needs them, Lynch said.

Teachers of the victim and the driver received support and information on Wednesday to prepare them for how best to handle the tragedy, she said.

Some students interviewed after school on Wednesday said that by dismissal time, the entire school knew about the lunchtime tragedy.

Rachel Calsbeek, 14, said she was leaving a nearby Carl's Jr. restaurant when she "heard a big screech."

The victim was one of many students walking on the roadside at the time, she said.

"There was a whole bunch of kids," Rachel said.

Another student, Sam Stern, 15, said many students witnessed the crash.

"It was so close," Sam said. "It could have been anyone."

- Contact staff writers Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com, or Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com.