Dragged to death

From the Palm Beach Post-

An 18-year-old died on Forest Hill Boulevard shortly after midnight this morning when he lost control of his car during a street race, according to Florida Highway Patrol investigators.

Stephen Vivarttas, of Boynton Beach was driving a 2005 Dodge eastbound toward West Palm Beach when he lost control near Anderson Lane. Investigators said he was racing a silver Ford Mustang, according to troopers.

His car spun out of control, hit the curb, lifted up, knocked down a stop sign, hit a fence, flipped and landed in a vacant lot. Vivarttas was thrown from the car. He was not wearing his seat belt, troopers said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sad and tragic but dumb too. Stephen Vivarttas had to know the danger he was taking, unless alcohol was involved, and for what? A short thrill is never worth one's life.

I feel sorry for this young man's family. God bless them.

The irony here, is I'm writing a web fiction story(TFM has 25 of them already on the internet. All of the Sci Fi/Fantasy variety) where a drag race between twenty-year-olds goes tragically wrong. Two teenagers travelling in another car, come upon the race by fluke and their car crashes. A boy is killed and his girlfriend seriously injured.

Much of my story revolves around the families, of the two teens who crashed, and of the twenty-year-old who caused the crash. The parents of the boy who died, plus the girlfriend decide to forgive the driver.

There was a movie on a similar subject just this week. It was based on what happened to Bruce Murakami and his family. Weird thing is, the Murakami story was not the inspiration for my web fiction. Rather it was the Stephen Bromstrup/Sarah Stone story. I've also worked a little of Mary Karen Read and the Virginia Tech tragedy into my story.

What I was trying to point out, is to forgive we need to forget. I admire the Stones and Reads for their ability to do this. My story when finished, I hope will honor their children's memory.

Linked to- Bullwinkle, Maggie, Morewhat, Perri Nelson, Third World County,