Sounding Off: How life can change in an instant

Witnessing the events in Laguna Beach that unfolded on the morning of Jan. 12 at South Coast Highway and St. Ann’s Drive would have a profound effect on me and my son.

In a fraction of a second, my perceptions of life would be altered, when the black Mitsubishi passed by my son and me within 30 feet at a rate of speed so great you could feel the air pressure change around you. The dirt and debris kicked into the air, and the car passing appeared more like a missile on a track than a car. This black car was speeding in the center divide of Coast Highway at morning rush hour and was moving so fast that it appeared blurred as it sped by.

In that fraction of a second I knew something was terribly wrong. In that moment suspended in time I believed this to be a suicide by vehicle. The speed in which this tragedy played out was so rapid and yet my brain played the sequence in slow motion. We were stunned by the horrific sound of metal crushing, a sound so foreign and, at the same time visceral and sickening, recognizable on a level more primal than familiar. This event felt more like a terrorist act than a car accident.

I was so enraged at this individual’s actions, risking the lives of those I love, seeing the stunned and injured around me, that I cared not at all, nor did I want to hear the reasons that would drive a person to act in this way. I did not care that he may have lost his job or girlfriend, or had a drug problem. No problem or excuse could forgive the action of taking another’s life in a random act of violence.

Had my son, one of his classmates, or the mother driving her kids to school been killed, the outrage would have been formidable. As it was, I saw a man approach the first officer on the scene. This man was visibly shaken by a near miss and fueled by anger at how close this deranged person at the wheel of a black car came to killing him. The officer responded with equal force to convince the man to return to his car. There were several more individuals with the same shock and dismay from nearly colliding with this car and the prospects of being killed.

When the driver of the Mitsubishi regained consciousness from the initial impact and put the car in reverse and accelerated, further threatening more lives and property, I felt the police had little choice. The police had to respond in a split-second decision and stop the continued threat and protect the innocent from further harm. I believe the police acted in direct response to the threat and acted accordingly. I am a person who walks a spider outside to spare its life; I value all life and lives.

My son, en route to school after witnessing the shooting, said to his mother that he no longer felt safe and that he could not understand how anyone could be so selfish with regard to others’ lives.

I experienced firsthand how a random act of violence can change lives, change a community and that life can be so fleeting. The Jan. 12 event as a reminder to love more, more often, with more zeal, for life is subject to change without notice.

CAREY CONKLIN lives in Laguna Beach.