This memorial is in Kent at the northeast corner of the intersection of South 196th Street and 72nd Avenue South (at the center of this Wikimapia aerial view). It honors the memory of Paije Glover (correct spelling). I saw this when riding my recumbent trike and became curious about the circumstances that resulted in the creation of this memorial. On the fence the initials "PYG" stand for "Paije Yvonne Glover."
I discovered from a Web search that Ms. Glover died from injuries sustained in a traffic accident on December 26, 2015. Few details were available. To get more information I submitted a public records request to the City of Kent for the applicable police report.
The report said 24-year-old Joshua O’Neill was driving his Saab sedan southbound on 72nd Avenue south at about 3:45 a.m. He had three passengers, all under the age of 21. Earlier in the evening the car had been involved in an illegal street race and either before or after that race the driver had purchased alcoholic beverages for the others but he had not consumed any himself.
Ms. Glover was in the front passenger seat and---ironically---the only person wearing a seat belt. The driver had a habit of not wearing one and the two seat belts in the back did not work. Passengers in the rear seat said later that while southbound on 72nd, the speedometer showed a speed of 100 or 120 miles per hour (160 or 193 kilometers per hour). The driver told police that he remembered some fog and wet roads. The driver had planned to turn right (west) onto 196th.
As the car approached South 196th Street doing about 100 miles per hour, a tractor-trailer rig was making a left (northbound) turn from 196th onto 72nd, having a green light to do so. Just before entering the intersection, the sedan’s driver braked, but it was too little, too late. The sedan went under the trailer, rubbing against the trailer’s front wheels, and spun around before coming to a stop against a retaining wall. The truck driver was uninjured. The sedan’s driver had minor injuries. A rear seat passenger lost his right hand and suffered other injuries. The other rear seat passenger suffered minor injuries. The driver was convicted of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges.
This is what I will think about every time I pass through that intersection.
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