Morehouse College remembers former roommates killed in Labor Day crash

ATLANTA, Ga. — The Morehouse College community is mourning the loss of two of their own.

Hugh Douglas and Christion Files Jr. were on their way to a party when they got into an accident and died on Church Street at Linwood Avenue in East Point.

The college released a statement Tuesday morning confirming the “devastating” crash and the deaths of both students.

Georgia State Patrol said the former roommates tried to pass another car in a curve off Church Street in East Point at a high rate of speed when the car left the road. Files’ car hit two power poles and overturned. Both Files and Douglas died at the scene.

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Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was at a memorial in Morehouse’s chapel on Tuesday afternoon so the victims’ families could hear how much of an impact their sons had on the community.

“[Files] was my roommate freshman year and Hugh was right across the hall,” student Emmanuel Agoro said.

Both Files and Douglas were juniors set to graduate with honors in 2025.

“It really broke my heart because I was on the way to the same party. I got there and then I found out what had happened and I raced down the street to go and see what happened and I was just distraught,” Agoro described.

During the memorial, students shared stories and described Douglas and Files’ impacts.

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As students reflect on the lives of their classmates, Agoro says many are talking about being safer behind the wheel.

“As a young college student, it’s like, it just puts everything in perspective. You have to slow down because if anybody else is moving at that same speed, like that could’ve happened to anybody,” he said.

Files was co-captain of the track and field team and media chair for the class council. Douglas received the Alt Finance Scholarship and the Goldman Sachs Scholarship. Both young men were members of the Morehouse Business Association.

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2 Morehouse College students dead after car hits utility poles, overturns in Labor Day crash

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