Students heartbroken over classmate's death

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- A young life was cut short in a car crash, and now her grieving classmates are determined to get through to drivers so it doesn't happen again.

The girl was just 10 years old and wasn't wearing a seat belt when the wreck happened.

Her aunt was driving on I-91 in Middletown Sunday when she lost control of the car.

The girl died at the scene. Now her heartbroken classmates are trying to make a difference.

"Wear your seat belt because your life could be over in a blink of an eye," said Jayla Gilliams, "...in support of my friend."

There are many hand-written signs kids made when they found out their 10-year-old friend Jasmine Bryant had been killed in a car crash over the weekend, and that she was not wearing a seat belt.

"Mine says rest in peace my friend in the 5th grade died in a car accident for not wearing her seat belt," said Jayla, "save your life, wear your seat belt."

"She was in my class, she was a really close friend," Jayla said.

"I decided that we should come out here because she really wanted to do a lot of stuff that she didn't have a chance to," said Aliyah Mitchell, "and we just wanted to do stuff so everyone would know that and it wouldn't happen to them."

Jasmine was a 5th grader at Elm City Preparatory School in New Haven. Her friends say she always had a big smile on her face as she walked through the school hallways. They say they want to turn this tremendous loss for them into action. They say they want to make sure that no other young girl loses her life this way.

"We started saying click it or get a ticket and sometimes we say you should always wear your seat belt," Aliyah said, "and we go back and forth so everybody can hear the message."

"I didn't think it could happen to someone like that," Jayla said. "I didn't think that someone that young could end up losing their life in that way."

They say it will be hard to go back to school and not have their friend there. It's a loss they're hoping no one else their age will ever have to face.

"I hope that people really pay attention and start wearing their seat belts so that this won't happen to them," Aliyah said.

"Even though my friend lost her life you should try to spare yours and stay safe," said Janelle.