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SALT LAKE CITY — Michael LeFevre was a striking, athletic teenager with a big, winning smile and dreams of playing college and professional basketball.
An Eagle Scout at age 13, he was a happy kid from Delta who never missed his midnight curfew. But on April 24, 2010, the 16-year-old was driving home from a small town 15 miles east of Delta and did not make it home. At 12:15 a.m., his father, Larren, went to look for him.
"I saw a police car with its light flashing, and I just had that feeling it was him," said Larren LeFevre.
When he got to where the police officer was headed, the lights shone on his own car rolled over in a field, its back wheel resting on his son's midsection. Instinctively, he went in Michael's direction, only to be stopped by the police officer.
"He said, 'He's already gone, there's nothing you can do,'" LeFevre recalled.
Thursday marked the fourth year the Utah Department of Health has gathered the families of teenagers killed in automobile accidents in Utah to tell their devastating stories. Every year, heartbroken parents, their eyes wet with tears, tell how lives of loved ones are snuffed out because of decisions made in a matter of seconds.
Every day we told (Michael) we loved him. We have no regrets.
–Larren LaFevre
Michael had never had problems keeping his seat belt buckled, but had neglected to snap it on the night he died. His parents think he was in a hurry to make it home, swerved to avoid hitting a deer, overcorrected his vehicle and rolled it, falling out of its sun roof.
"No matter how big of a hurry you're in, take the time to do the small things," said his father, adding that it goes beyond buckling seat belts to the way you treat those you love. "Every day we told (Michael) we loved him. We have no regrets."
Larren LeFevre and his wife, Norene, spoke as part of the Utah Department of Health's "Don't Drive Stupid" campaign, which Jordan High School student Britney Bangerter said was created "for teens by teens." The campaign is part of the larger Zero Fatalities initiative, which aims to tackle high number of vehicle-related deaths among teenagers, who are four times more likely to be involved in car crashes than any other age group, said Bangerter.
Twenty-five teenagers were killed in motor vehicle- related crashes in Utah in 2010. One of them was Carole Callison's 18-year-old son Donald, who was in the Salt Lake area for a manager's training class when the car he was riding in was struck by a TRAX train.
"People think (rules) are a nuisance, but people die because you don't obey the rules," Callison said.
Donald was assigned to be part of a group with three others he had never met. The driver, who went around the lowered crossing arm, was also killed in the crash.
His mother was notified of her son's death four hours later by an officer with the Sevier County Sheriff's Office.
"I loved (Donald) because he was my son," she said. "We were becoming good friends. The last few months of his life we were enjoying talking to each other, sharing with each other."
He left behind a daughter who was not yet a year old and three siblings.
Tracy Martin's 16-year-old daughter, Fealina Espinoza, was an outgoing, spontaneous Ben Lomond High School student who loved camping. On her first outing without family, she and four of her friends were struck and killed in Ogden Canyon when the driver of the vehicle crossed a double-yellow line on a blind corner to pass another carload of friends and was hit head-on by a truck.
"They all had big dreams and they were close," Martin said of her daughter and her friends, noting that Fealina wanted to be a lawyer or a brain surgeon. "I'm scared every time my other kids leave."
- Of the 235 accident-related fatalities in 2010, 44 were age 19 or younger
- The top three contributing factors were speed, failure to remain in the correct lane and failure to yield the right-of-way
- 40% of fatal accidents involving teens occured between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.
- 65% of teens killed in an accident were not wearing a seat belt
Johnny Reyes' daughter, Vanessa, was in the car with Fealina. He, like many others, described the experience as a "nightmare" and had to stop to wipe his eyes before he could describe the scene where his daughter died.
"To the young teens reading this, you may say, 'What a sad story,' and it is sad, but it is not a story, it is our reality," said Reyes. "We pray you don't make it yours."
This sentiment was reiterated by Martin, who advised all drivers to follow the laws; Carole Callison, who implored drivers to be patient; and the LeFevres, who reminded people to do the little things like buckle their seat belts.
"Let these stories serve as a warning," said Jenny Johnson of UDOH's Violence and Injury Prevention Program. "Let's hope there's nothing to publish next year."
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
