One year ago today...

It's been a year since a truck struck and killed Henry Waye, Jr. as he walked home along George Street. He was a sweet, happy and gentle little soul, a 14-year-old who could make people laugh.

I never knew him, but spent a good chunk of last March hearing from those who did while trying with my wife, Jackie Majerus, to tell his story and to dig into the terrible circumstances that led to Henry's death.

I'm not sorry that the story is in another reporter's lap now. There's something that just kind of rips at your soul when you delve too long into the nightmares that make headlines.

But I think of Henry often and hope that somehow his friends and family are able to find peace.
Some of his pals are gathering at 6 p.m. today to mark the anniversary at the site of last year's vigils.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Bond lowered for Park

Accused hit-and-run driver Robert Park was in court today, where a judge lowered his bond to $95,000. Read WTIC's account here to get details.

This was apparently in the arrest warrant -- which the police have yet to send me:

About an hour after the crash, police say three officers found Park asleep in a bedroom, and smelled alcohol on his breath.  After they woke him up,  he fell over several times, as he tried to take a lighter out of his pocket.  Police say Park could not make complete sentences, and slurred his words.  A blood alcohol test was more than three times the legal limit.
Police say Park threatened suicide,  when they told him he had killed a teenager.  

You can read reporter Diane Church's account in The Bristol Press on Wednesday. It may be online sooner, but it isn't now.

Here is the Courant's story about Tuesday's arraignment.

Update on Wednesday, 9:45 a.m. --

Here is Church's story for the Press. It has a nice picture by Mike Orazzi inside the courtroom.

For detail from the arrest warrant, see this story in today's Courant.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

"Not completely his fault"

“I think if [accused hit-and-run driver Robert Park]’s guilty he should go to prison, but I don’t think he should be put to death,” said Zach Pokorny, one of Waye’s friends who was heading toward his house. “He was drunk, so it’s not completely his fault.”

I can't let that one pass.

The standard that Pokomy mentioned in today's Bristol Press story about the arrest of the man accused of the deadly March 5 hit-and-run that left 14-year-old Henry Waye, Jr dead is a common one.

"He was drunk so it's not completely his fault."

Think about that.

Assuming that the police are correct about Park, this man got smashed, then climbed behind the wheel of his big white pickup truck and drove it into a kid, leaving him to die as he weaved on up George Street to his home.

Whose fault could that possibly be other than his?

It's not like somebody tied Park down and poured cheap vodka down this throat. He apparently did that all by himself, for years, if the people the Press spoke with in March were right about him.

Perhaps alcoholism is a disease. I'll grant that it can take control of people in ugly, awful ways.

But so what?

If Robert Park had been driving home from Aetna that night, tired from a long day of eyeballing actuarial tables and accidentally struck a kid walking in the street, does anyone think that would be worse? After all, in that case it would be completely his fault, if you buy the argument that begin drunk lessens the guilt.

We all recognize that accidents happen, even deadly ones that leave children dead or crippled. Sometimes, it's just bad luck, one of those terrible confluences of events that everyone wishes they could go back and undo.

But it's not an accident, really, when someone drags himself behind the wheel while sloshed out of his gourd and then hits someone. While not deliberate -- and, really, what kind of animal would deliberately run down a kid? -- it's entirely predictable.

Park's guilt isn't lessened because he was drunk, assuming the police have it right. His guilt is actually made all the greater.

Frankly, I get tired of people making excuses for the crazy, stupid, evil things that some people do behind the wheel.

When they drive drunk or race along at 100 miles an hour or more or weave like a maniac through traffic, they're setting up a tragedy. They may not mean to cause a death, but they make it possible, perhaps even likely, that someone will wind up a corpse.

When it happens, it's completely the fault of the drunk or maniac who caused it.

Let's not make excuses for Park or anyone else who should have known better. They don't deserve a break.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

More about the arrest of Robert Park

Robert Park

Read reporter Diane Church's story here.

Here is today's story in the Courant.

Channel 30's story is here.

This is The Associated Press story.

Here is WTIC radio's story.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Accused hit-and-run driver Robert Park arrested today

The police reporter for the Press, Diane Church, is working on a story. But meantime, see this one in the Courant.

According to the Courant, Park is charged with second-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter with a vehicle, negligent homicide, drunken driving, evading responsibility and misconduct with a motor vehicle. He is being held on a $200,000 bond.
Lt. Edward Spyros promised to deliver the report to me in a PDF format when the arrest was made, so I expect you can read all the details here before too long.

For all the background, click on Waye just beneath this post. It will bring up all the past stories.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

5,000 sign petition calling for skatepark to be named for hit-and-run victim Henry Waye, Jr

Organizers pushing for the city to name its skatepark after hit-and-run victim Henry Waye, Jr managed to collect 5,000 signatures calling for park commissioners to take back the request.
But Park Board members said Wednesday there’s nothing they can do until until this time next year.
The city charter specifically requires that officials wait at least a year before naming anything after anyone, Mayor Art Ward said.
The park panel did, however, send the request to a subcommittee to explore options and to work with organizers so that when a year passes, there may be an agreement on what to do to remember the Bristol Central High School freshman who died March 5.
Steve Smith, who led the petition drive, said that Waye touched many lives in his 14 years.
“I want to do something positive with the grief” that so many are feeling at losing the smiling, happy boy to a hit-and-run driver.
Police are still investigating the George Street accident in which a pickup truck driver, Robert Park, hit Waye and kept on going. No charges have been filed.
Smith said that naming the skatepark after Waye would “a fitting tribute” because the boy enjoyed the newest addition at Rockwell Park from the first day that it opened last fall.
Smith said that he had no trouble collecting signatures and found “a great deal of support” for the idea among residents.
He proposed naming the skatepark the “Henry Waye, Jr Skatepark at Rockwell Park” to ensure that the respected Rockwell name wasn’t lost in the change.
If legal issues or other problems preclude naming the skatepark itself after Waye, Smith suggested putting up “a small honorary plaque” at the skatepark honoring the boy and other youngsters who have died in tragic circumstances at too young an age.
Patrick Nelligan, a park commissioner, said that the building and maintenance committee can look into what’s possible in the months ahead.
Nelligan said that by working with Smith, the committee should be able to reach an agreement that everyone is happy with.
Smith said he didn’t mind the year delay required by law.
“I realized this would take time,” he said. “I just think it would be the right thing to do.”

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Waye memorial items returned

The tiny angels, stuffed animals, wooden crosses and other mementos that made up a makeshift memorial for 14-year-old Henry Waye have been returned, his father said.

Henry Waye Sr. said Tuesday that after a story appeared in The Bristol Press last week about the memorial’s disappearance, someone left the items at his house. He didn’t know who it was.

Now the grieving father wants his son’s friends to have those things back.

“It’s not my stuff to hold onto,” said Waye, who said he would welcome anyone who brought things to the memorial to come to his house to retrieve them.

“These are people who left something for my son,” Waye said. “It was theirs. They should have it back.”

After his son was killed by a hit and run driver on George Street a month ago, young mourners created a memorial on a fence at the Elk’s Club parking lot not far from the accident scene.

Teens made posters that included personal messages and photos of Henry and hung them on the fence. Visitors came to the memorial, signed the posters and left special items on and along the fence and the sidewalk.

When the memorial disappeared last week, Waye’s family asked that the items be returned. After the newspaper story ran, they were.

Waye said none of the posters were returned, but said he suspects they may have been ruined in the rain.

Since his son’s tragic death on March 5, there has been a steady stream of young visitors at his home, Waye said.

“My door’s been open to all his friends,” said Waye. “They cried on my shoulder. I cried on theirs.”

The community as a whole has been very supportive, Waye said.

Waye said he likes the idea that some of the city’s teens are pushing, to name the new skatepark at Rockwell Park after his son. But he said he knows it might not happen.

If there is a memorial to his son, said Waye, he’d like it to have enough room on it to include the names of any other children who may lose their lives in similar accidents.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Hey kids, sign the petition if you want

My Bristol Press colleague Bob Montgomery is a sweet man, but he doesn't know a thing about petitioning the government.

In his column yesterday, he raised the unnecessary question about whether people who are not registered voters in Bristol can sign the petition calling for the Park Board to name the new skatepark at Rockwell Park after Henry Waye, Jr.

The answer, of course, is that they sure can.

There are complicated -- unnecessarily complicated -- rules for signing petitions related to candidates and referenda. But there's no reason in the world that a petition asking for a skatepark to be named after someone has to follow those same ridiculously complex regulations.

In fact, there is a constitutional right for the people to petition their government. It doesn't say a word in there that would preclude young people from partaking of that fundamental right of any U.S. citizen.

Connecticut's Constition, too, mandates that citizens have a right to offer "by petition" their thoughts and grievances to the government.

Citizens are not just registered voters. They are all us, including kids.

So if you want to sign the petition, do it. They're available in a number of shops around town now. There's also an online petition.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Broken by the bottle? An ex-wife talks and a camera may have captured Park at a key moment

Two more stories about the hit-and-run suspect to round out this weekend's offerings:

First off, Jackie Majerus writes about what Robert Park's ex-wife has to say in this story.

And I've got one about the possibility that a videocamera caught Park at a liquor store shortly before the accident.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Hit-and-run driver's history of drinking

Reporter Jackie Majerus wrote this terrific story, from his son's perspective, about the man behind the wheel in the fatal hit-and-run that left 14-year-old Henry Waye, Jr dead this month.

I chipped in this one, which makes it clear that Robert Park's drinking hasn't gotten better in recent years.

And don't miss Jim Smith's column today taking the police to task for undue secrecy.

I haven't seen the paper itself so I don't know if a couple of other stories are in print today or waiting for tomorrow's issue (or later, depending on how things go).

I would ask that if anyone who knows Park -- friends, family, coworkers, etc. -- would like to offer a different perspective on the man, we are eager to hear from you. We'd very much like to offer more balance, but with Park and his wife passing up the chance to talk to us, it's hard.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Waye case remains under investigation

City police are still working on their investigation into the hit-and-run death of 14-year-old Henry Waye, Jr this month.
Lt. Edward Spyros said Tuesday there is nothing new to report on the case as officers continue to piece together evidence as part of “a thorough and deliberate investigation” into the March 5 accident on George Street.
Spyros said police can’t disclose the name of the suspect. He said they don’t know if he has a lawyer.
A statement issued by Spyros recently said that police located a suspect and his white Chevrolet pickup truck follwing the accident and that the suspect “was hospitalized shortly after.”
Police are waiting for the final report from the medical examiner’s office, the state’s forensic laboratory, a mechanic’s report on the vehicle and more, according to Spyros.
The goal is for police to “prepare a detailed arrest warrant and present it to the prosecutor’s office” for review as soon as possible, he said. If there is probable cause, a judge would later issue an arrest warrant.
Spyros said that as soon as an arrest warrant is issued, the case details will be made public.
“The decision to make an arrest can sometimes be difficult for police,” Spyros said in his written statement. “Police have to balance the rights of victims, suspects, court rulings and what the public expects from its law enforcement officers.”
He said the result will be a “thorough and fair” investigation that will protect everyone’s rights.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Online petition to name skatepark after Henry Waye, Jr

The folks organizing the petition drive to name the new city skatepark after hit-and-run victim Henry Waye, Jr now have a way for people to sign online here.

There are also petitions around town at a number of businesses.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

911 call from Henry Waye's friend alerts police

Here's a story about the 911 call that police received from Logan Costante, the boy who was walking with 14-year-old Henry Waye, Jr when a pickup truck slammed into Waye on the evening of March 5. It's heartbreaking to hear.

And here is another about the Freedom of Information requests we've made seeking from the police as much information about the fatal accident as possible.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Cockayne joins 'Justice for Henry Waye' group

Republican city Councilor Ken Cockayne joined the Justice for Henry Waye group on Facebook even before my story came out. He said he's eager to see the driver who struck and killed the 14-yar-old Hull Stree boy arrested and brought to justice.

As best I can tell from scanning through the 565+ people who have joined the group now, Cockayne is the only top city official who's signed up. I checked on the other city councilors who are on Facebook -- Craig Minor, Cliff Block and Kevin McCauley -- and determined they have not signed on to the group.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

"Justice for Henry Waye" group formed

Nearly 500 people, most of them high school students in Bristol, have joined a fast-growing new Justice for Henry Waye group online that seeks the arrest of “the jerk” who “killed a kid because he made the choice to drink and drive.”

“His death was so tragic and the way he passed away was so needless,” the group’s organizer, Alesia Ervin, a 2007 Bristol Central High School graduate, said Tuesday.

She said she wanted to get the word out that people died “when you drink and drive recklessly.”

A Central freshman, 14-year-old Henry Waye, Jr, died March 5 when a hit-and-run driver on George Street plowed into him and kept on going. The boy died a few hours later.

Police say alcohol was a factor in the accident but have not filed charges against the driver, Robert Park. Park, who is in rehabilitation, has been unavailable for comment.

Mariana Velez Escobar, a Central freshman said Tuesday this is a “time of confusion and frustration” for her classmates who “hope there will be a consequence for this man’s actions.”

Nicole Mitchell, another Central freshman, said Monday that she joined the new Facebook group “because people need to stop drinking and driving.”

Another Central freshman, Megan Swenton, said Monday she knew Waye “and I really want there to be justice for him.”

Ervin said she never expected the number of people in her group to “go that high and so fast” when she set it up last weekend.

She said she chose to establish the group on Facebook because “there’s lot of kids out there who have Facebook accounts” and the system itself ensures that friends will learn about new groups their friends join, which helps spread the word.

Katelyn Mill, a Central junior, said Monday that Waye was “a good kid. He always had a smile on his face and he didn’t deserve to die the way he did or at his age.”

“Henry deserves justice to the stupid man who struck him,” Mill said, adding that she completely supports the effort to make sure the driver faces charges.

Amy Masi, a junior at Bristol Eastern High School, said Monday that she signed up for the group even though she never knew Waye.

“I feel somehow connected to him through feeling of loss,” she said. “I know what it feels like to lose someone close to you, so I joined the group to support all those who were extremely close to Henry.”

“My heart is with them through their pain,” Masi said.

Catherine Boyce, an Eastern sophomore, said Monday she didn’t know Waye but “can only hope that the man who killed him will be found and punished for his actions.”

“He now will have to live with the fact that he killed an innocent life, which would be enough to make me turn myself in if I were him,” she said. “I could never live with such guilt.”

“I joined this group because i find that it is unbelievable that the police have not arrested the man who committed such a heinous crime,” Eastern senior Cameron Aiken said Monday.

“If the police have evidence and know for a fact that” Park was responsible, Aiken asked, “Why hasn’t he been arrested yet?”

Aiken said that Waye’s father and sister must feel awful because Park “hasn’t been brought to justice.”

“It’ll bring closure and a little relief to his family by bringing this man to justice,” Aiken said.

Police say they are making sure they build a careful case against the driver so that they can charge him with the most serious possible offense and ensure his conviction. It may be several months or more before charges are filed.

In the meantime, Park’s truck has been seized and searched for forensic evidence that might tie it to the crime. Police found Park at his home not long after the accident, drunk and suicidal, according to Mayor Art Ward’s account of what police told him.

A number of people on the group’s website said they would like to see the community take a harsher stance against drinking and driving.

“There’s just a lot of crazy drivers who need to be brought to justice,” said Jessica Ceballos, a Central junior whose cousin was hit by a car last year and badly hurt.

Ervin said that she hopes everyone learns a lesson from this tragedy – to “think before you drink.”

Mitchell said that “maybe they should make worse punishments for drinking and driving.”

“I hope all the people in Bristol can learn to be better, safer drivers seeing what the end results of reckless driving can be,” said Escobar.

How to join the group

Follow this link. 

Note: This story was updated on Tuesday at 2:20 p.m., replacing the initial version.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Video that a Central student made about Henry Waye, Jr

Video created by Bristol Central High School junior Noelle Rondini:



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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

A vigil for Henry

Holding his ground near a makeshift memorial to his son, a silent and sad Henry Waye, Sr stood surrounded Thursday evening by more than 450 well-wishers holding candles aloft in tribute to the boy who never got a chance to grow up.
He brushed away tears as friends came up to hug him and offer few words of solace.
“I’m going to miss skating with him,” said Michael Keith, a Bristol Central High School freshman who came to the informal vigil to “pay my respects” to his friend, Henry Waye, Jr.
As it grew darker, the crowd swelled across George Street, forcing police to close the road where a hit-and-run driver struck and killed the 14-year-old a week earlier.
They gathered in little knots, friends sticking by each other, holding their candles and holding back their tears. Dozens wore homemade shirts honoring Henry.
“Henry was a good person. He was really nice,” said Jesslyn DesJardins, an eighth grader at Memorial Boulevard School. Henry used to give her his hot French fries at lunch.
Nicole Worrell and Jennelly Ramos, also eighth graders at the Boulevard School, said they hung out with Henry at the new skatepark at Rockwell Park and elsewhere. They said he was funny and kind.
“He deserves the respect that he would have given any of us if we had died,” said Jimmy Hay, a freshman at Central who said he ran most of the way to the vigil from his Peck Lane home.
Henry’s Sunday school teacher at Grace Lutheran Church in Plainville, Sonia Nurczyk of Bristol, called his death a tragedy.
“Words alone can’t explain the grief” so many are feeling, she said.
“It’s overwhelming,” Nurczyk said. “To know Henry was a pleasure. He was one of those kids who just came out and said ‘what can I do?’” whenever something was needed, he said.
Nurczyk said the loss is especially hard for Henry’s father.
“I feel so bad for the father all the tragedy he’s been through,” said Shae Ritter of Bristol, whose daughter knew Henry from Memorial Boulevard School,.
“I just hope there will be some justice for Henry,” Ritter said, after handing out a dozen candles to youngsters who didn’t plan ahead.
More than a few of the crowd had harsh words for the pickup driver who struck Henry and didn’t stop to help the boy. Robert Park, the George Street resident who was behind the wheel was apparently drunk when police caught up with him afterward. He has yet to be charged.
But it wasn’t a night for justice. It was a moment for those who knew Henry to gather together, to sing, to pray and to hold candles against the darkness.
Nurczyk said she hopes that out of such a great a loss, something good might come, some sense in the community that everyone needs to recognize that in one awful instant, they can devastate so many lives.
A band called Tighten Up played a song they wrote for the occasion when the crowd grew silent: “Tears fall from our eyes/ Our only question is God, why?”
They followed it up with a rendition of “Amazing Grace” that saw many singing along with the band, and then the Lord’s Prayer.
Afterward, the crowd walked over to the Wayes’ home on nearby Hull Street, where they lined the sidewalk with candles and piled flowers.
After walking home with friends and his sixth grade daughter, LeeAnn, Waye stopped beside a small group near the walkway to his house.
“I want to thank you all for your support during this tragic loss,” Waye said. “It wasn’t I who just lost. It was all of you.”
“God bless you, guys,” Waye said.
Then he walked inside as the candles flickered in the chilly breeze.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Pickup driver identified as police build potential homicide case

 The police don’t want to identify a suspect in the hit-and-run last week that killed a Bristol Central High School student because it might jeopardize “a potential homicide investigation,” Police Chief John DiVenere said Tuesday.

Though the police refuse to say who was behind the wheel of the truck that killed 14-year-old Henry Waye as he walked up George Street last Thursday, city assessment records show that Robert D. Park of 132 George St. is the owner of the 1996 white Chevrolet pickup truck apparently involved in the accident.

Park has not been charged in connection with the accident that happened about a quarter of a mile downhill from Park’s home.

Lt. Kevin Morrell, who heads the police traffic division, said the owner of the truck was the person behind the wheel when Waye was struck and killed. He refused to name him, however.

Efforts to reach Park have been unsuccessful. He is apparently in a rehabilitation center.

DiVenere said that the police are determined to make a thorough case before seeking a warrant for anyone’s arrest in the case.

“When it’s done, it’s going to be done right,” the chief, with ever T crossed and every I dotted.

The brown, wood shingle, single-story house where Park has lived for a decade is for sale. A Century 21 sign dangled from a pole out front Tuesday.

Mayor Art Ward has said that police told him that the suspect, whom police found within 75 minutes of the accident, was “highly intoxicated” and threatening suicide at the time. He was taken to Bristol Hospital, the mayor said. Others say he is still receiving treatment.

A police source said Tuesday that when officers found him in his home, Park could barely stand up because he was so drunk.

However, it is not clear whether Park had been drinking before the accident.

Lt. Edward Spyros would only say that alcohol may have been a factor.

Waye and a friend were walking their bicycles up George Street, just past the Bristol Elks Club parking lot, when the pickup truck crossed into the wrong lane and hit the boy. The driver never stopped.

Spyros said that he cannot provide any information about the driver or the truck while there is ongoing investigation.

The truck was hauled away by police on Thursday night after the accident. It is being checked for forensic evidence, police said.

Spyros said that officers are pursuing an array of evidence that may lead to an arrest in several months.

The Bristol Press has filed Freedom of Information requests asking for documents and recordings related to the case, including any accident report, police calls to the Park’s address, the search warrant and 911 calls that evening.

Reporter Jackie Majerus wrote this related story:

Ever since the day his landlord’s truck hit and killed a boy who was walking home on George Street last week, Matthew James said he’s been looking over his shoulder.

James said he’s rented space in Robert Park’s house at 132 George St. for a couple years. Now, he said, it feels like there’s a “bullseye” on the house and he’s worried that he or others in the house could be victims of retaliation for what his landlord did.

“There’s people that live in this house that are not involved,” James said, in the fatal accident that claimed the life of 14-year-old Henry Waye, a freshman at Bristol Central High School.

James said he feels for Waye’s family and the tragic loss they suffered.

“It’s terrible,” said James.  “I wish there was something I could say, but there’s not.”

Robert Park isn’t at the house now, but James and two others are, and they’re all living with the horror of the accident.

“There’s four people that live in this house,” said James. “One person committed a crime. The rest of us are blown away. There’s no way to downplay it.”

James, who rents space in the house with his girlfriend, said he’s not related to Park or even much of a friend. They’re housemates, sharing space to save money, James said, having met through a mutual friend.

When Park’s pickup truck hit Waye shortly after 6:30 last Thursday evening, James said he was working upstairs on his computer. He came down to the door a little before 7 p.m. expecting a delivery of Chinese food, he said.

Instead, he saw four Bristol police officers.

They asked who owned the white Chevy truck, James said, and he said it belonged to Park.

James said he took the four police officers to Park’s first floor bedroom when they asked to see Park. The officers asked James to stay in the front room, James said, so he did.

Police remained at the house for three hours talking with Park, James said. A steady stream of officers came to the door and joined the others in the bedroom, said James, until police finally left with Park about 10 p.m.

James said he waited in the front room the entire time.

James, a Bristol native, said he didn’t want to talk about Park, Park’s condition that night or what happened. He doesn’t want any problems with anyone, he said.

“Things are bad enough,” said James. “I don’t want any trouble.”

Majerus also wrote about Waye's funeral here.

The Press also submitted a Freedom of Information request to the police yesterday, amplifying a handwritten one I put in on Monday. Here's what it says:

March 10, 2009

To the Bristol Police Department:

Under the state Freedom of Information law, I hereby request the opportunity to review the following records:

A record of all police calls to 132 George St. since March 5, 2009.

911 calls between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, 2009.

Any accident reports connected to the death of 14-year-old Henry Waye, Jr. on March 6, 2009 on George St.

Any records concerning the transportation of anyone from George Street to Bristol Hospital on March 6, 2009.

Any portions of the PR-1 report from the START team that are complete.

Beyond that, I ask for any and all public records about the accident that took the life of Henry Waye, Jr that are in your possession or control, regardless of where they are stored, whether they are in the police department or an office, home or other computer. These would include any documents that mention Henry Waye, Jr of Hull Street, Logan Costante of George Street, or Robert Park of 132 George St.

I request as well that you act promptly to fill this request. There is no need to wait until everything is complete. I am more than happy to review it as the material is made available.

In addition, because this information is crucial to the public interest and of widespread interest to the community, I hereby request a waiver of any and all fees. Keep in mind, too, that I am asking to review them, not necessarily to obtain copies.

I want you to know that the newspaper will vigorously argue against any attempt to charge for this information. This is a case that clearly meets the criteria for having fees waived.

I appreciate the work that will go into getting this together. I look forward to seeing it soon.

Sincerely,

Steve Collins

If anybody knows of a document that I should specifically request, please let me know what it is.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Candles for Henry

One of the many nice things that Henry Waye, Jr's friends are doing to honor his memory is to gather at 7 p.m. Thursday to light candles for him.
They plan to get together by the makeshift memorial on George Street, where the accident occurred a week earlier, and then walk to Waye's home on Hull Street.
It should make quite a procession.
I doubt anyone's going through the normal parade permit sort of channels for this, but it's the sort of spontaneous and wonderful event that teens come up with on their own, and the rest of us can't help admiring.
You can find some information about it on the memorial sites for Waye on Facebook and MySpace, but all anyone really needs to know is that there are likely to be a lot of people, young and old, holding candles and trying to hold back tears on Thursday evening.
Please be careful driving in that area Thursday. There will be a lot of people, some of them not at their sharpest. And if you can show up with a candle, why not do it?
In the end, sometimes, the best thing you can do in a troubled time is to light a candle against the darkness.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Waye's friends and classmates say they'll never forget him

Reporter Jackie Majerus wrote this story:

The desk where Henry Waye sat in English class at Bristol Central High School is covered with messages for the 14-year-old boy who lost his life last week in a hit and run accident.

“Everybody agreed that nobody’s going to sit in the desk for the rest of the year,” said freshman Nicole Mitchell, Waye’s friend and classmate.

Besides all the notes to their lost friend, Mitchell said, students wrote to Waye all over the whiteboards in the classroom.

“It’s not the most happiest room now,” said Mitchell.

But for Mitchell and other students who will attend Waye’s funeral service today – a bus will transport those whose parents give permission but cannot provide a ride, she said – life isn’t happy right now, either.

“People are talking about it everywhere,” said Mitchell. “A lot of us haven’t gotten sleep. Every time you close your eyes, you see it happening.”

Mitchell said she can’t fathom how anyone could have hit her friend with a pickup truck while he was walking home Thursday evening and not stop to help.

“Words can’t express how I feel towards this person,” said Mitchell. “I just can’t believe somebody would do that.”

Rumors are rampant, said Mitchell, and it’s hard not knowing exactly what happened to Waye that night. She said she learned of his death when she got to school on Friday morning. It wasn’t long after that she had to leave for home, she said.

“School’s been tough, that’s for sure,” said Mitchell.

But teachers have been supportive, said Mitchell. They offer to talk with students about Waye, said Mitchell, and that helps.

A history teacher who puts up a quote of the day on Monday put up “You’re buggin,’” a familiar phrase from Waye, and called it the quote of the week, said Mitchell.

Other teachers are giving up their free period so that Waye’s teachers can attend the funeral, said Mitchell.

Counselors have also been available in the school.

Mitchell said she and Waye had pottery and gym class together.

“He was my first friend when I came to Central,” said Mitchell. “I feel like I’ve known him forever.”

Mitchell said Waye was funny in a way that was goofy, never mean. He made stupid jokes that kept his friends laughing, she said.

He had a silly red shirt with a ketchup bottle on it, Mitchell said, that read, “I put ketchup on my ketchup.”

Nobody understood it, she said, but that was him.

On Thursday, many of the students plan to wear shirts they made in Waye’s memory, said Mitchell, and that night, his friends plan a candlelight vigil at his home on Hull Street.

“A lot of people just miss him,” said Mitchell. “A lot of people have a piece of their heart missing. It’s just a big hole.”

They feel a little better when they do things in his memory, said Mitchell, and stay busy.

“It helps keep his spirit alive,” said Mitchell.

In pottery class last week, the students were making coil mugs or vases, said Mitchell, and Waye vowed to make one three feet tall.

The art teacher said he couldn’t do it,” said Mitchell, so Waye was determined to prove otherwise.

His work was more than two feet high when he died.

“He ended up not being able to finish it,” said Mitchell.

And I wrote these:

Hundreds of young people turned out Monday at the Bailey Funeral Home for the wake of 14-year-old hit-and-run victim Henry Waye, Jr.

But even more teens joined online memorial sites that sprouted up after Waye’s death Thursday as students sought solace on familiar websites.

The creator of a MySpace page devoted to Waye, Bristol Central High School junior Noelle Rondini, said she established the site in memory of the friendly boy she’d known since sixth grade.

Rondini’s memorial page had 279 members Monday night. Two sites on Facebook had well over 400 members.

Central student Phoenix Pedrosa, a friend of Waye’s, said, “We all need to keep his memory alive and nowadays the internet is the best way to do that and reach the most people possible.”

Amanda Eagle, another Central junior, said she joined one of the Facebook groups even though she didn’t know Waye.

But, she said, “he was a student at my school. He will always be a member of the Bristol Central family.”

Waye died Thursday evening after a pickup truck ran into him on the wrong side of the road on George Street. The driver, who hasn’t been identified, didn’t even stop to try to help.

The boy walking with Waye, Logan Costante, described the vehicle to police, who found it 45 minutes later several hundred yards further up the street. 

Waye’s friends, classmates and other young people have struggled to make sense of his death – and to search for something to do.

Derek Cody, a Plainville High School junior, said that on Saturday he bowled a perfect game that he attributed to Waye, who loved bowling.

“Thank you, Henry, for guiding my hand today to give you what you deserve,” Cody wrote on his Facebook page.

Nicole Mitchell, a Central freshman, wrote a poem for Waye that she posted online that included the line “Life can begin and end so fast/ The memory of Henry Waye will always last.”

Mitchell set up one of the sites. She said it was supposed to be a place to talk about Waye and their feelings about his death.

Eagle said that Waye’s death “has taught me that sometime life can be cut short so you have to live it to the fullest.”

Waye “was a kid that could make anyone happy,” Rondini said.

Police refuse to talk

Three days after the driver of a white Chevrolet pickup truck killed a 14-yar-old pedestrian on George Street and kept on going, police are still refusing to identify the man.

Lt. Edward Spyros said that because there is an ongoing investigation, he cannot say anything about who operated or owned the pickup truck, which has been impounded.

Spyros said that police were collecting evidence in the case and that charges may not be filed for months.

The Bristol Press filed a Freedom of Information request Monday for the accident report, police calls to the address of a suspect, the search warrant and other documents.

A George Street man, whose identity is known to the Press, owns a white 1996 Chevrolet pickup truck that was not at his home Monday. Nobody answered the door at his house.

Two neighbors said they could not say whether the police had taken the truck or talked to the man.

Spyros said he did not want to see someone named as a suspect who might turn out to be innocent.

Links:

A MySpace memorial page for Henry Waye, Jr

RIP Henry Preston Waye, Jr (Facebook group)

RIP Henry Waye (another Facebook group)

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com