TIVERTON — A row of broken fence posts and twisted wire marks the accident scene. Plastic debris from the Volkswagen lies in a small heap in the field where the car came to rest.

Roger Sartini, right, and his wife, Debbie, look over the scene where their daughter, Kim Sartini, died in a crash.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

Throughout the day yesterday, people visited the grassy field off Narrow Avenue to pay their respects at the place where three friends were killed Thursday evening when the car they were riding in flipped over.

Charles Cosgrove and his fiancÉe, Kim Perry, came from their home in Westport to see the spot. They heard in the morning that their friend Michael Tripp was among the dead.

“It just doesn’t feel real,” Perry, 24, said as the couple stood by the side of the road.

The police yesterday said that Tripp, 23, of 262 Wilbur St., Fall River, was driving the car at the time of the accident, which also killed Kenneth P. Griffin, 18, of 301 Bulgarmarsh Rd., Tiverton, and Kimberly Sartini, 20, of 21 East View Drive, Little Compton.

A third passenger, Cory Braz, 18, of 31 Bucks Way, Tiverton, was taken by rescue workers to Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River with non-life-threatening injuries.

At about 5 p.m. Thursday, the compact Volkswagen hatchback was traveling west on rural Narrow Avenue near the Massachusetts state line when it left the road and flipped over. Sartini and Griffin were ejected from the car.

Police Chief Thomas Blakey said that speed was a factor in the accident and that none of the car’s occupants was wearing a seat belt. The Tiverton police are investigating and have asked the state police to reconstruct the accident.

At Narrow Avenue yesterday, friends wondered what had happened. Some said the car must have lost control after coming around a tight curve on the small road. It appeared to have knocked down a street sign and then crashed through a fence around the field.

They left notes and flowers to mark the place of the accident. A photograph of Griffin and Tripp hung on a tree. The letter beside it said, “Kenny, we love you. We will miss you.”

In June, Griffin had finished his senior year at Tiverton High School without graduating. He was set to return to take enough courses to get his diploma, said principal Steve Fezette. He described Griffin as a free spirit who had a wide circle of friends.

Counselors will be available tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon in the school library.

Fezette encouraged friends and family members to stop by. He said counselors will also be at the school Monday by appointment.

Jessie Frazier, a sophomore at Tiverton High, visited the scene of the accident with two friends yesterday afternoon. He said Griffin was a good person who loved to joke around.

“Kenny was a funny guy,” said Frazier, 18. “He was never serious about anything.”

Clarissa Borodemos also stopped by Narrow Avenue yesterday with friends. She knew Sartini from Portsmouth High School, which students from Little Compton attend because their town doesn’t have a high school. Sartini graduated last year.

She said Sartini came from a close family. She worked at a Dunkin’ Donuts on East Main Road throughout high school and had recently started a job at a daycare center.

“She loved kids,” Borodemos, 20, who now lives in Middletown, said. “She was a really good person.”

She said the Volkswagen belonged to Sartini. Sartini’s father and stepmother visited the accident site in the morning.

Cosgrove, 26, said he had known Tripp well for more than a decade. He said Tripp lived with his girlfriend and worked in landscaping.

“He had a good heart,” he said.

“He was like family.”

With reports by projo.com staff writer Michael McKinney

akuffner@projo.com