Teen girl’s death brings I-5 risks to light

Published 11:34 pm Monday, April 13, 2009

EVERETT — Serenity Salvador will wake up again today to face a mother’s worst nightmare.

A little more than two weeks ago, her 15-year-old daughter, Haley, died trying to cross I-5 near the Everett Mall.

It was Sunday night, and Haley decided to take a dangerous shortcut. She made it across the busy southbound traffic, through the wooded median and onto northbound lanes. Two cars hit her and ended her life.

After Haley was gone, Salvador, 35, and Haley’s grandmother, Karina Kayser, 54, learned from the girl’s friends that the place where she ran across the busy interstate is sometimes used by other teens intent on getting to the other side.

Haley’s family wants other young people to stop taking that risk — immediately.

They also plan to lobby for a footbridge so walkers have more options for crossing the freeway near the mall.

Haley touched many deeply. Her family was showered with hundreds of calls, e-mails, letters and flowers — from strangers and from people who loved the Cascade High School freshman.

Salvador is yet to fully grasp that Haley is gone. “We have moments when we think it didn’t happen,” she said.

But it did, and some questions will remain unanswered.

“I can’t make sense of it, what she was doing there and why,” Kayser said.

Haley’s friends have provided some clues. Along that stretch of freeway, the only option for crossing on foot is to head north and over the Bothell-Everett Highway, or south to the 112th Street overpass.

Haley was too young to die, said Phillip Petosa, also a freshman at Cascade. Phillip said he has crossed the freeway in the same area three times.

It was scary, but he had to get home quickly, and it saved him a 10-minute walk, Phillip said.

Haley’s death made him realize the risk.

“I thought of how fast the cars are going and how hard it would be for them to stop. I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said.

Haley’s death was the first fatality in at least the last two years that involved a person running across I-5 between Marysville and the King County line, Washington State Patrol trooper Brandon Lee said.

Troopers have encountered no previous problems in the area where Haley was killed, but they know she was not the first pedestrian on a freeway.

“We know that this happens. People need to understand that I-5 isn’t a place for pedestrians to walk,” he said.

Since January 2008, troopers contacted more than 800 people walking on I-5, I-405, and Highways 525 and 526 from Marysville south to the county line, Lee said. The people ended up on a freeway for numerous reasons: many may had left their cars along the freeway or had to get out of their vehicles because of an accident, he explained.

At 60 miles an hour, it takes seconds for a car to reach a person several hundred feet away, Lee said. At night, distance is especially deceiving. “Headlights may look like they are far away, but (the car) is going to be there fast,” Lee said.

Salvador hopes Haley’s death will serve as a wake-up call to kids who cross the freeway.

“That shouldn’t happen again; it really shouldn’t,” Kayser said.

Haley’s family wants to grab this chance to help kids see that actions have consequences, she said. They also hope others will consider a footbridge along I-5 in the area where the accident occurred.

That won’t bring back Haley, but nobody else’s daughter will lose her life like that, Salvador said. Haley, at 15, had never driven a car and couldn’t really understand the meaning of 60 miles an hour.

It’s not always enough to tell a teenager, “don’t do it,” Salvador said.

Haley’s family described her as a girl who was never afraid to be herself and didn’t judge others. Learning came naturally to her. So did friendships. She wrote poetry and wanted to be an actress.

Teenagers lined up to speak at the memorial service Thursday at Smokey Point Community Church in Arlington, Kayser said.

“They all called her their best friend,” she said.

One by one, Haley’s friends paid tribute to her fearless spirit. Her family had no idea how many lives she touched, Salvador said.

About 500 people attended the service, she said.

The family didn’t want people to wear all black to the service, and many came dressed in what Haley liked. That’s what her daughter would have wanted, Salvador said. Haley’s colorful clothes and funky hair, most recently dyed pink, revealed her bright soul.

“She was just so effervescent,” her grandmother said. “You didn’t have to be special to be loved by her.”

Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.