RICHMOND, Va. -- Graduation season is a time meant for celebrations and new beginnings. But for the family of 18-year-old Christopher King, who died just two weeks after his graduation party, that future never came.
“He was just so full of energy and loved his friends,” Christopher’s mom Christy King said. “He was just a love and joy.”
Christopher died when he was thrown from a speeding car in James City County in the summer of 2020. He was in the backseat of a convertible, not wearing a safety belt.
Tragically, similar stories have impacted several Central Virginia families over the past year.
In April 2023, Will Hammitt and Nick Booth were just weeks away from their James River High School graduations when they died in a speed-related crash in Chesterfield County.
Eight months later, 15-year-old Midlothian High School student Wyatt Fowler, died in a crash involving a teenage driver, who now faces involuntary manslaughter charges.
This past weekend, Aiden Schmidt and Joseph “Steven” Castro, both Tucker High School students, died when a car they were riding in slammed into a tree in Goochland County. The 18-year-old driver, also a student, remains in critical condition. Police believe excessive speed was a factor.
Watch: Remembering Aiden Schmidt and Joseph “Steven” Castro
“My heart goes out to those parents. It’s just so devastating, no parent should ever have to lose their child,” King said. “No one should ever have to go through that. That’s why I do what I do.”
One year after her son’s death, King started the Christopher King Foundation, a nonprofit that works with safety advocacy groups and congressional leaders fighting for tougher laws and better technology. King recently returned from Washington D.C., where she attended the “Road to Zero” summit with 150 families from across the country who have lost their children in car accidents.
Powhatan County Deputy Brad Hughes, who works alongside King as a safety advocate, said both he and King are on a mission to influence teen drivers to be aware of the devastating consequences of distracted, impaired, or reckless driving.
“I let them know, in a drop of a hat, they can lose everything,” Hughes said.
Hughes lost both his legs in 2014, when a distracted driver struck him while he was directing traffic on Midlothian Turnpike.
Hughes now dedicates his career to speaking engagements and safety advocacy, including programs like VCU Project Impact, a program that strives to reduce and prevent teen accidents through life-like simulations performed at high schools across Virginia.
Watch: How 3 seconds on Midlothian Turnpike forever changed his life
Hughes said teens must understand that tragedy can easily happen to them and their friends.
“At the end of the school year, are you going to look beside you and there’s an empty seat?” Hughes said he often asks teenagers. “Are you going to remember them? That’s the big thing that we need everybody to understand about this. Parents need to step up and make sure they understand that their kids, when they are driving their vehicles, that they have the ability to understand that vehicle.”
In collaboration with DRIVE SMART Virginia, King is launching a new program aimed at safety advocacy in elementary schools. She said it’s when children are most impressionable and forming life-long habits. The Junior Speed Busters program will begin in the fall.
King is also working with law enforcement’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign, launched Monday, just before Memorial Day weekend.
“This season is definitely the deadliest for teens,” King said. “We just have to educate, educate, educate. Talk to them, tell them how much you’d miss them, you know. Mother’s Day was here and it’s just so hard. You don’t want to ever go through that.”
King said a free safety advocacy day is planned for June 22nd at the Williamsburg/Jamestown Airport. In Richmond, a distracted driving summit is planned for August 8 and 9 at the Richmond Marriot. To register, visit DRIVE SMART Virginia at drivesmartva.org
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