When Williams was 16, he accidentally struck and killed a 4-year-old boy in the Avenues.

On July 18, 1981, when he was going to his job as an orderly at LDS Hospital, two young boys ran from between parked cars and onto 8th Avenue, according to Tribune files.

Williams' car struck both boys, who were brothers.

James B. Forster, 4, of Salt Lake City, died three days later at Primary Children's Medical Center. His 3-year-old brother survived. Police said Williams was traveling about 20 mph.

"He had absolutely no chance to react," said Williams' father, Paul Williams, in an interview on Monday.

As a result of that accident, said Paul Winterton, a longtime friend, Williams "knows exactly what this young man [in Friday's accident] is going through."

Following the 1981 accident, "People showered [Williams] with forgiveness and kindness," said Winterton.

On Monday, Williams held a news conference to talk about Friday's crash, which claimed the lives of wife Michelle Williams, 41, who was pregnant, son Ben, 11, and daughter Anna, 9. Another son, 6-year-old Sam, remained at Primary Children's Medical Center in what Williams said was stable condition.

"This is truly a bitter cup my family was asked to partake in," Williams said outside a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake center in his Highland Park neighborhood. "I know that it will all be all right one day."

The driver of the car that hit the Williams' vehicle, a 17-year-old Skyline High School student, is in a juvenile detention facility. Police say he may have been driving under the influence of alcohol.

The accident happened at about 9:45 p.m. Friday beneath Interstate 80 on 2000 East. A southbound Jeep Cherokee struck the Williams family's northbound sedan.

The ordeal began after the Williams family picked up Sam, he said. The family was taking the boy to get something to eat.

Williams declined to answer questions about the moments before the crash or the collision itself, saying he had not yet spoken to police.

Williams, who suffered a broken rib, said he was wearing a seat belt, but he does not know who else in his car was wearing a seat belt.

"I have yet to see a police report even as to what happened," Williams said.

As firefighters were extricating Williams from the car and placing him on a backboard, he said he knew his wife and two children "were gone."

"And I had a decision to make because I knew it was going to be a lot of healing that I needed in my life," Williams said. "I did not want that healing to be hampered by another step in the process, and that was getting over anger.

"And so perhaps it was the easy way out. I decided to forgive then and there.

"And interestingly enough, that's when I heard the voice of my youngest son, 6-year-old Sam, cry out from the back."

The teenage driver was at a Baskin-Robbins near Sugar House Park less than an hour before the wreck and did not appear drunk, two Skyline students said Monday.

"He seemed normal," said senior Jayme Jensen. He said the teenager pulled into the store parking lot in his Jeep Cherokee, asked about his friends' whereabouts and left.

Senior Lauren Winterton also saw the teenager at Baskin-Robbins. While they spoke only briefly, Winterton said, the teenager seemed to be acting normal.

A number of the teenager's close friends, many of whom, like him, play football, attended a "shake night" at a local man's house, as they do most Friday nights, to meet new people and drink milkshakes, Winterton said.

The students said the teenage driver did not attend the shake night with his friends, but they were unsure where he went.

Jensen said she hoped people could learn from the incident.

"I know lots of people who drink and drive, and they should consider themselves lucky," Jensen said.

Senior Derek Crane said no announcements had been made at school about the accident. In one class he shares with the teenager, students avoided talking much about the wreck, trying their best to ignore the empty seat in the class.

"Everybody's just shocked about what happened and not really believing it got this serious, and sad about what is going to happen to him next," Crane said.

The teenager's football coach, Roger DuPaix, said high school administrators asked teachers not to comment to media.

He said he had not yet met with the team.

"We're all kind of shocked by it," DuPaix said. "It's just a shame."

Williams said he was drawing strength from the example Michelle Williams set during their 18 1/2 -year marriage. Williams called her a forgiving person.

"I look at this as kind of an exam to see if I was listening," Williams said.

Williams described Ben and Anna as "sweet, wonderful souls; very outgoing, very gregarious."

The father asked the public to "extend a single act of kindness, a token of mercy or an expression of forgiveness" by Valentine's Day. He then wants the public to write down those acts and send them to him in an e-mail so he can share them with his two surviving sons.

"I can think of no greater valentine that you can present to someone or that my sons and I can present to my sweetheart than that," Williams said.

His e-mail address is williamsvalentine@myavant.com.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Says he forgives the teenager who crashed into his car Friday, killing his wife and two of his children.