SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento family is honoring the life of a teenager who died while saving his brother in the Sacramento River.
15-year-old Amari Quarles was at Sand Cove Park when his brother went into the water to get a football and struggled to make it back. The family said Amari jumped in to help. While a boater was able to save Amari's brother, Amari was swept away by the current.
"That river is extremely strong; it doesn't matter how experienced you are, as a swimmer, it's going to be very hard to get out there once that current starts pulling you," said James Sashe, Amari's father.
A year later, Amari’s family is spreading the word about a the dangers of local rivers while starting a new scholarship in his honor.
“We wanted to do a little bit different of a focus because a lot of them are educational. Some students may not have the highest GPAs, but they still like to go to college as well. So if they did something a little heroic, this might be able to help them out to grants,” said Sashe.
Amari was a straight-A student and a freshman at Natomas High School before he died.
The family is also raising funds through GoFundMe to make it a lifetime grant for seniors at the school.
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