Pavel

Particularly sad, the death of Pavel Mishuk in Vancouver, Washington. He was killed on impact when the car his brother was driving crashed into a tree. The brother, Anatoliy, was ejected from the car during the crash and he died a month later.

Pavel was eighteen; Anatoliy was twenty one. Speed, reckless driving, and alcohol were suspected. You don’t have to be taking photos of memorials to know what a lousy combination that is.

I photographed this descanso at night, partly out of necessity and partly to get a sense of what it was like when the accident happened. Columbia Drive is a long, straight, somewhat isolated road at night, no doubt tempting to hit the gas pedal.

Pavel looks like he was a nice kid in this photo hung on the tree that killed him.

What’s worse, according to the news report, the brothers had a third sibling, Maksim Mishuk who was killed in a crash a year earlier at age 24. As a father I have to feel for the boy’s parents; I can’t even imagine the grief and pain they had to endure.