By
Clark Fredricksen
April 25, 2008
A UW student was killed after skateboarding into a Metro bus early this morning.
Police spokesman Jeff Kappel said the young man was skateboarding along the street and slammed into the bus just before 1:30 a.m. in the intersection of Northeast 45th and University Way.
Fire department medics declared him dead on the scene.
Friends identified him as a 19-year-old freshman student from Bellevue and member of Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) Fraternity. They said he had been studying and was taking a break to get some food.
According to witnesses, the bus driver had a green light at the time and the student was wearing a hat, but no helmet.
Metro Transit spokesperson Linda Thielke said the driver “wasn’t even aware that there had been an accident” until police stopped the bus a short distance away. The driver, she said, has been driving full time with Metro Transit for the last year.
Seattle Police and Metro safety officers are now investigating.
Information from KING-TV and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Reach reporter Clark Fredricksen at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]
22 Comments
#1 tz
on April 25, 2008 at 2 p.m.(Beaverton, OR | Unverified Name)
Dear Clark,
"Metro" is a proper noun of an organization and is always capitalized. The Seattle Times and King 5 have identified the student, so it's probably not a huge scandal if The Daily does the same. Last, "fire department medics" are called EMTs. You may want to go wake up your editor and ask him to give your articles a once over before putting them online. Or not. Whatever.
#2 V
on April 25, 2008 at 2:36 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
I cannot believe that you, #1 tz, would be a stickler about grammar and proper word choice over this article. It seems as though people just always want to critique everything, without regard for content.
I saw the aftermath of the accident last night... it is tragic, it happens all the time, but should not be devalued by making such a fatuous and trivial comment.
It could have happened to anyone- to you, me, or your mother or father... I send my condolences to the student's family, with the realization of how fragile life is.
#3 zt
on April 25, 2008 at 3:52 p.m.(Beaverton, OR | Unverified Name)
The real tragedy here is that this newspaper constantly publishes reports that wouldn't be fit for a junior high school newsletter. This is an event that had a profound impact on this campus, and this is the article we get for it.
This is no less a tragedy through editorial criticism, but The Daily is doing everyone a disservice with an article like this.
#4 concerned mom
on April 25, 2008 at 4:15 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
What heartbreak for the family and friends of such an awesome young man. This is a plea to three skateboarders who, around 10 PM last night, blew through the stop signs at the intersection of 20th and 47th as I drove my daughter to her sorority. My instincts told me to go after you, but since you clearly forced me to stop despite my having the right of way, I decided the words I might offer would be uttered in vain.
After hearing the news this morning, I prayed that each of you would realize what could have been your own story. Please cherish the life you still have and learn from this tragic incident. Don't let this young man's death be in vain. And above all, don't let your family and friends be the next to go through such excruciating pain.
#5 Former editor
on April 25, 2008 at 7:13 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
As an former editor of a paper at another school, tz is correct in his editing. But if he/she feels so strongly about these issues maybe he/she should join the Daily's staff and be constructive.
As far as the content/quality of the story is concerned, The Daily is clearly trying to simply get SOME story on its website as a source of information for people who don't know any details. This is probably not the published nor final version.
As far as the kid goes, my heart really goes out to him and his family. Life is short and beautiful. It's a terrible loss.
#6 aldfj
on April 25, 2008 at 7:44 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
wait why is it doing a disservice by not capitalizing one letter? Oh, oh God, the horror!
#7 Jeff
on April 26, 2008 at 1:57 a.m.(Issaquah, WA | Unverified Name)
UW would be much more skater-friendly if they got rid of those anti-skateboarding implements on campus... How many skateboarders getting killed will it take for UW to wake up?
#8 Mr. Biggs
on April 26, 2008 at 3:28 a.m.(Prague, Czech Republic | Unverified Name)
Oh, Jesusht, Jeeesuth Crhist
#9 tz
on April 26, 2008 at 11:05 p.m.(Renton, WA | Unverified Name)
Dear Former editor,
"An former editor"? Please. It is obvious that Clark would be better suited writing articles at your other school. You may consider contacting him about this.
As for the dead student, it certainly did him justice for polluting our roads and sidewalks with the irritating garbage of a distraction that skateboarding serves to society. My only hope is that other skateboarders either change their ways or thus find themselves in the same position as this young man. Copped.
#10 a fool answering a fool
on April 26, 2008 at 11:41 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Jeff: Those anti-skating implements on campus are there because when you(presumably) grind on the corners of concrete things, it chips away at and destroys them. You'll get no sympathy on this point from me. I've come to work to find the concrete benches rearranged into a line by skateboarders and chipped to hell. And how does this in anyway relate to a kid who tried jaywalk(ride?) without looking and got run over because of it? By the way, he was going from frat row to the Ave. You don't need to go on campus to do this.
TZ: You're kind of a dick. You may be technically right in the narrowest, most uptight of definitions, but you have no rhetorical skills whatsoever.
#11 g
on April 27, 2008 at 11:10 a.m.(Riese, Italy | Unverified Name)
If you have a problem with something concerning the Daily (editing, content, copy editing technicalities) do something about it and join the staff. This is a student run newspaper staffed by many students who are not journalism majors and no one works at the Daily exclusively - they have homework too. So, you can bitch about it on the internet and not change a thing or you can actually try to help out, but your attitude leads me to believe that there is a slim chance of this happening.
#12 Doug
on April 27, 2008 at 12:31 p.m.(Edmonds, WA | Unverified Name)
Answering the anti-skateboard device thread: Are precious park benches or concrete corners getting chipped worth a human life? I think not.
#13 Tim
on April 27, 2008 at 12:32 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
#9 tz: The death of a person is never justifiable by their wrongs or their actions. Life is a precious thing, and to think or say that someone "deserved" it is a horrible thing to say. You said it did him "justice"? Where is the justice for his family, friends, and classmates? You are certainly not in a position to judge this person and his actions. You do not even have an inkling of who this person was. He was loved very dearly by the people around him. If you knew of a fraction of the people he touched, I hope you would realize the insensitivity of your comment.
#14 MB
on April 27, 2008 at 1:14 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
As somebody who witnessed the incident, I feel all the previous commenters need to take a step back and realize how lucky we all are that our stupid choices have resulted in our deaths. Chase bailed off his board before the intersection when he saw the bus. Unfortunately, it was too late, as when he fell from his board he went under the bus, sending his board in one direction (towards Twice Sold Tales) his brain the other direction towards American Apparel and his hat near the sidewalk also on the American Apparel side of the intersection.
I applaud the Daily for updating their website with this information on Friday, because clearly with an incident happening at 1:30am on Thursday night/Friday morning, there would no way to update the print editions. I'm sure a follow-up article will follow that will identify the student.
So please, get over yourselfs, acknowledge that yes, some skateboarders do make stupid decisions but so do walkers, drivers and bikers, and be thankful that 1) you're still alive and 2) didn't witness this horrible accident that has caused me nightmares since Thursday night.
#15 MB
on April 27, 2008 at 1:15 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Sorry- have *not resulted in our deaths.
#16 CB
on April 27, 2008 at 8:22 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
#7 and #12-
Stop trying to make this some sort of skateboarding issue. He wasn't on campus, and if anything this incident proves that there needs to be more regulations on skateboarders (he wasn't wearing a helmet, and the bus was the one with the green light).
Anti-skateboarding implements are for everyone's safety, and frankly it pisses me off when I almost get hit by some idiot in red square who thinks he's cool.
This is a very unfortunate situation and I am disgusted by you trying to use this for your own cause. My prayers go to him and his family, I can't even imagine...
#17 anon
on April 27, 2008 at 11:33 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
@ TZ: suck my balls.
#18 Pudge
on April 28, 2008 at 12:24 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
@Tim:
Honestly, his death is perfectly justified. These people never learn. Sure, life is precious, then stop risking your life skateboarding on the goddamn streets. His parents, friends will be sad, yes, but that is the student's fault. Just wait, sooner or later this will happen again. These people are walking on wires everyday. And when that happens....well....GG!!
#19 Wow
on April 29, 2008 at 3:04 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
Speaking of skateboarding www.needgoods.com
#20 speak of skateboarding
on April 29, 2008 at 3:05 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
www dot needgoods dot com
#21 Siv
on April 29, 2008 at 2:07 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
I am stunned and appalled that the tragic loss of a young man's life in a horrific accident would provoke this sort of childish back-and-forth on The Daily's website. Can we take a step back and be respectful of the fact that this young man was a member of our campus community? Let's save arguments about skateboard rules and college newspaper quality for the lighter fare. This incident was a tragedy and this young man and those that are grieving his loss deserve our respect.
Have we really come to the point in society in which the untimely death of one of our peers provokes nothing more than petty bickering? If so, ours is a sad time indeed.
-Siv Prince
#22 KP
on May 1, 2008 at 3:44 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
You people are awful. Do you not realize a 19 year old boy is dead? And all you have to say is make comments on the editing of the article and call his death "Justice?" Apparently, you haven't had a person close to you die, because it is a horrible feeling. And no death is justifiable when it is taken too early. You need to grow up and have some respect.
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