Life After Death
Marya Purrington
Alex Ewing relives the night that took his best friend and life there after
Do you remember exactly what happened to you on the night of January 4, 2003? Alex Ewing, a 2002 VHS graduate, remembers that date extremely well because it was the night that changed his life.
At approximately 10:30 p.m., Ewing’s car caught air off the Paradise Ridge Hill on 220th SW and landed him in a nightmare.
Ewing was headed to the ferry with his friend and classmate, Gerry Richards, after spending the evening at an Island kegger. He was driving under the influence and was going as fast as he could. When he hit the top of the hill, he felt his wheels leave the ground. The car landed on the right side wheels and Ewing instantly veered the car to the left, causing the car to flip multiple times, hit a telephone pole, and land upside-down on the flatbed of a truck parked on the side of the road. Somewhere between the first landing and the final flip, Richards was thrown from the car. Richards died instantly due to head injuries. Both boys were 18 years old.
“The last thing I remember is feeling the wheels lift off the ground,” Ewing said. “I don’t remember anything after that.”
Ewing spent time in the hospital after the accident because his spinal column had been crushed by the roof when the car flipped over. When he found out what had happened to Richards, he became suicidal. His entire family was extremely affected by the accident as well. Ewing received private counseling on the Island from two different therapists.
In September 2003, Ewing was charged with reckless vehicular homicide and sentenced to 24 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to the charges during his arraignment.
“Gerry’s mom and his sister were actually at my arraignment and they both gave me a hug,” Ewing said. The family forgave him for the accident.
Ewing and Richards had been friends since Ewing had moved to Vashon in the sixth grade. They had not seen each other in awhile prior to the accident because Ewing was attending college in Illinois.
“Gerry was a really nice guy. I’d been friends with him for a long time,” said Ewing. “He was one of my best friends.”
Richards was described by tennis coach Eva Lou Grimsley as a kid who was fun to work with.
“He was great to work with because he always wanted to improve,” Grimsley said. “He always worked hard and was always good natured. He used to pour Tobasco sauce all over everything, even breakfast food.”
Grimsley and Ewing remembered that Richards was color blind and often wore mismatching socks, which he called his lucky socks.
“He was kind of an eccentric kid,” Ewing said. “He was color blind so he wore clothes of really garish colors.”
Ewing said that he felt in more than one way for the accident because he played a part in getting Richards to drink. He explained that Richards had been a shy kid and Ewing thought that getting him to drink would help him get rid of his shyness.
“If he hadn’t drunk he probably wouldn’t have even been there with me,” Ewing said.
Ewing spent the first few days of his incarceration, in September 2003, in the King County Jail in Seattle and was then transferred to the R-Unit in Shelton, WA.
“The R-Unit is where they process you to see where you should go,” he said.
Ewing was sent to Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, where he spent 7 months.
“I was then sent to Cedar Creek [Corrections Center] which is in Little Rock, Washington, and worked for the Department of Natural Resources,” he said. “I did pre-commercial thinning, which is like logging, and landscaping work for $0.42 an hour.”
Ewing spent the next three months in work release. He served 16 out of his 24 month sentence and was then released on New Years Eve of 2004.
“Prison really sucks,” Ewing said. “It was really scary initially because I was a middle class kid in there with drug dealers and murderers.”
Ewing said he didn’t know what to expect in prison and that it was hard to go from place to place because every time he was moved he had to meet new people. Making acquaintances in prison was important for Ewing.
“It’s not a good idea to be a 100% loner in prison,” he said. “People will mess with you and assume you’re a sex offender or you’re weak if you don’t hang out.”
The long-term consequences of Ewing’s choice to drink and drive were almost as devastating as the accident and will affect him for much longer.
Continuing legal consequences will affect Ewing for the next ten years. He will be able to get his driver’s license back around Christmas of this year, but is still unsure if he will drive. He is still on probation and must get permission before leaving the state. He cannot leave the country and he cannot vote for the next 10 years. When he applies for a job he must state that he is a felon.
“When I got out I applied to about 50 places and none of them called me back,” Ewing said.
Emotional consequences also influence his life. The accident has drastically changed his life, not only because his friend died, but also because he was injured and went to jail.
“It’s changed how I view the world and how I look at my own life,” Ewing said. “I was pretty apathetic beforehand and now I’ve mainly realized the potential consequences of my actions.”
The accident helped him realize he had the ability to hurt a lot of people and even take someone’s life through a single mistake.
“I think about Gerry and I still miss him,” Ewing said.
Graphic car violence in movies also has an affect on Ewing who lived through an accident that some movies would portray as adventurous and exciting.
“I’m a nervous car passenger as well,” Ewing said.
The accident is always going to be a part of Ewing, and will always be in his mind. It will affect him for the rest of his life, including many decisions he considers.
“It is a part of who I am,” he said, “but I don’t want it to define me.”
He thinks it is important for him to remember the accident.
Ewing is currently attending Evergreen College in Olympia and is in his junior year. He applied while he was in prison and was accepted. He wants to pursue a medical career and become a doctor for the non-profit organization Doctors without Borders, which is an international medical organization that sends emergency aid to people affected by disasters in more than 70 countries.
“I want to do something to kind of make up for what I did,” Ewing said.
Ewing believes that helping save people’s lives will help make up for his actions that helped take one.
Ewing does not suggest drinking and driving for high school students.
“I drove drunk maybe 50 times in high school and thought nothing of it,” he said. “People think it can never happen to them.”
Vashon High School students read about accidents like Ewing’s but many do not realize that it has happened here and could happen to them. Ewing and Richards both went to Vashon High, played sports, and drank with friends like many high school students do today. The accident killed Richards, changed Ewing’s life, and devastated two families and others. This kind of accident can happen to anyone and hopefully this story will help convince students to not make the same mistake.
“I know students won’t stop drinking,” Ewing said, “but drink moderately and be safe. Don’t drink and drive.”