November 4, 2005

Traffic accidents claim one EVHS student’s life, injure another

By Anila Khan
Times Intern

Traffic accidents resulted in 4,000 deaths in the state of California in 2004.

This year, Evergreen Valley High School recently lost a student who was hit by a car while crossing the street, and another EVHS student met the same fate, yet lived to tell about it.

Jorge Trejo died on Oct. 12 when a car hit him while crossing Capitol Expressway.

Jorge Luis Trejo, “Elmo”
Jorge Trejo, a 16-year-old sophomore at EVHS, was walking home from a friend’s house around midnight on Wednesday, Oct. 12. As he attempted to cross Capitol Expressway, three cars were in line to make a left turn.

The first two drivers waited for Trejo to pass, but the 19-year-old woman driving the third car, a Maroon Honda Civic, didn’t see him and struck a fatal blow. San Jose police said that he was walking “in the crosswalk, but against the light.”

A protective role model
At birth, Trejo was diagnosed with a rare illness and spent the first three years of his life in a hospital. He underwent several surgeries before finally being released to go home.

He had a younger brother, Luis Felipe, whom he had grown very close with over time. Luis and Jorge enjoyed going to Boggini Park together to hang out when they had nothing to do.

A friend to look up to
Although Trejo transferred to EVHS from Fremont High School during his sophomore year, he quickly became a well-known and well-liked student. “There will never be anyone else like him,” said Leslie Montano, one of the many friends he had become acquainted with.

In his circle of friends, Trejo was the “nice” one; he was polite and courteous to others. His dream was to grow up and travel the world, yet his life was cut too short.

No more second chances
Samuel Rios, student service liaison at EVHS, said, “(Jorge) didn’t get to live out his life and reach his fullest potential.”

Rios believes that every morning, everyone has a chance to start fresh in a positive or negative way. Everyone makes bad choices, but every day provides another opportunity to learn from them and fix them. From this tragedy, Samuel hopes students learn that once someone reaches Trejo’s finality, there are no more choices.

Anna Nguyen recently survived being hit by a truck on her way to school.

Anna Nguyen
On the morning of Oct. 25, EVHS sophomore Anna Nguyen was crossing Quimby Road to get to school, when a white Ford truck made a turn and hit her with the right side of his bumper. The truck hurled Nguyen about 18 feet away from the site. Her cell phone ended up in someone’s yard, and her shoes and book flew down the street.

EVHS senior Ryan Catlett was in a car right behind the white Ford and witnessed the incident. “The guy was in such shock, he was shaking and couldn’t get his ID out when the police asked for it—I had to help him take it out,” said Catlett.

Anna was not instantly unconscious, but blacked out when placed on the stretcher. Although she suffered from a fracture in her right femur, some abrasions on her back and a bump on her head, she is quite aware that the outcome could have been fatal.

“I feel really lucky—a guy from our school (Jorge) was recently hit by a car and died,” said Nguyen, who will be back in school in about a week or two. “I feel really fortunate, considering that I could’ve died too.”