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By: Robert Sanchez

Issue: May 2011

Section: Feature

Tags: Tony Majestic, Todd Stansfield, Sean Student, Michael Budge, Marvin Gilchrist, crash, awards

Rewrite

Nearly seven years ago, 16-year-old Todd Stansfield was behind the wheel of his car when it smashed into another vehicle on a rural, two-lane road in Douglas County. Four people died. Stansfield lived. And ever since he put pen to paper after the crash, he’s been trying to use the power of his words to make sense of that horrific night.

This article was a finalist for the 2012 Livingston Award for Young Journalists. It also was a finalist for a 2012 City and Regional Magazine Award in the feature category and was part of Robert Sanchez's finalist portfolio for CRMA's writer-of-the-year.

 

Todd Stansfield is awake, just barely. A sedative enters his bloodstream through a needle that’s stuck into one of his torn-up arms. His joints ache. His chest is a road map of stitches from the surgeries he underwent three weeks earlier. He’s dropped 30 pounds from his already lean frame; his arms and legs have become emaciated sticks of skin and bone. The 16-year-old’s head pounds from the screws bolted on a brace attached to his skull.

It’s early July 2004. The room at Littleton Adventist Hospital is bright. The lab coats and steady march of friends and family—too numerous to count—flow in like an ocean tide. Most everyone is warm, positive, enthusiastic. How ya doing, Todd?

The tracheotomy hole at the base of his neck makes it impossible to answer; the air tickles his throat. So he points to a small board of letters that the doctors gave him to communicate. His girlfriend at the time, a blond high school cheerleader, sits at Todd’s side and asks him to spell out how he’s feeling. Point to the letters, Todd. He strings together a few random letters. Katie looks confused. He’s not making sense.

He’s been awake only a few days, but he’s already come to fear the night here. Not because of the darkness that envelops the hospital room, but because of the loneliness that surrounds his mind. At night, Todd is left only with questions.

Todd survived a car crash—he’d gotten that bit from his older sister—but that was it. So far, there have been no stories of how he’d nearly died during surgery, or how his car was so badly burned that it didn’t even look like a car anymore. No one told him about the others—his three high school buddies, and that old man in the other car. They didn’t make it.

No one told Todd about the funerals and how hundreds of people showed up for them, packed the churches. No one told him about the investigation and the questions that sheriff’s investigators had been asking around town: On a scale of one to five, how responsible is Todd? Do you know what the boys were doing? Do you think Todd would drive that fast?

Ninety-three miles per hour. It was all over the news by now: Sixteen-year-old driver, 10 days with a license, four dead. Todd will have to get better before they deliver that news. Until then, Todd is here in a hospital bed, listening to the sounds of the machines that are making sure he’s still alive.

While everyone quietly worries about his future, Todd worries about his family. His parents and his sister are at his side every day. He can see the concern on their faces. Todd’s sister wonders if her little brother knows how he got here. Do you know what happened to you, Todd?

There is a pad of paper nearby. Todd scratches out a letter. I…. Then another. W… His sister watches. A… S….

During his brief existence, this is the first time Todd would see the power of the written word, the deeper meaning behind a phrase, the staggering punch of a simple, declarative sentence. These would be the first words of his new life.

I was in a car crash.

Comments

I have to agree with the

I have to agree with the above comments. While it is nice to know what happed to Todd after the crash, the last I heard he was a vegetable basically after my parents and a few neighbors pulled him from the car, but are the parents, relatives and friends of all those others ok with this article? The "old man's " name by the way is Michael Gilchrist not Marvin. Or so it says on his cross right up the road from my house. I can't really believe they are blaming him for the accident... though I guess it helped Todd out because he can't be blamed completely for it since Gilchrist was supposedly drinking..... but then again a blood alchohol level just below the legal limit VS speeding WAY over the speed limit on a very very hilly road with bumps ... I don't know...glad to see when they talk about Gilchrist later on they say that not to many people drinking or not could have avoided something like that. My mother has a co-worker that was on the phone with one of the students as the crash happend. They said they were going over 100MPH she told them to slow down then the phone went dead. I was in our arena with a friend when we heard a loud noise and ran up to the driveway to see what it was. Saw fire and ran to the house to get my mom and call the police. I was fairly young at the time so my mom asked me to stay in the driveway as she and my dad ran up to help try to pull the kids out before the fire department even got there. I met her halfway between our driveway and the accident with some blankets for the kids and our fire extinguisher, which we found out doesnt work, so there was no fire extinguisher from anything I remember..... It was not this amazing one man thing. The guy that supposedly pulled them out was that firefighter who at first said the crash was Gilchrests fault. He also said the roads were wet and it was hard to see. The roads were not wet. We could see everything down the road clearly. AND it was not "Twilight" as it says here. It was definitely daylight out. And from what my mom says the boys were not "bloodied". I am glad that Todd has made a recovery. But I agree with the comment stating that : I hope he is writing about safe driving. At least some of the time. I can understand though if he were writing about some things for himself as well. I am also glad that , from what I had heard, there was another guy who stayed got out of the car before the accident to stay with his girlfriend. But I am truly sorry for those who lost a friend or family. member during that crash. Just please know that people around here , my parents and our neighbors, did all they could for all of them involved in the crash to try to get them out before the car caught on fire to much to do anything.

Why?

I am writing for the family of one of the victims of this Horrific crash.  Actually, I'm writing for myself...they have their own thoughts and feelings about that day, and this article.  I know the article wasn't written to glorify Todd Stansfield, but it seems to make the reader want to empathise with how "terrible" his life has been since the accident.  He's in New York...writing... I am writing this 7 years to the day that my cousin,  Sean Student died.  Fathers Day...AGAIN.  3 days after he turned 17...AGAIN...Year after Year.  I guess I am writing to say and ask that an additional article be written to commemorate the 4 lives lost.  To tell how Those families are getting along now, and to emphasize on Teens driving SAFELY and NOT Carelessly!   Cars arent meant for showing off how fast they can go. 

Todd, according to some of the teens at my familys'  house the day after the accident, told me he was driving fast and wreckless the whole night.  One of them even said, "Todd, slow down, you're gonna kill someone!" , and sure enough, less than 2 hours later he killed 3 people and the next one died the next morning.   

My aunt Karen cries EVERYDAY!!!  His younger brother, whom played hockey side by side with Sean since they were 3 and 4 years old, could no longer stand to be on the Ice without his brother there...gave up his hockey carreer when his brother's was taken from him.  I NEVER thought hockey would be dead in our house.  The jerseys and bags still lay on the table in the garage, dusty and untouched. 

Todd took a lot more than just 4 people's lives that day.  He took my aunt's, my uncle's, and my cousin's (Sean's Brother) as well.  And yet, he still gets to call or be with his family on Holidays and special occasions.  For my family, not only is Seany not there, neither are his parents or brother.

I'm sorry to be so brash.  Please understand my pain and frustration.  I want something POSITIVE to come out of all of this.  I hope when Todd writes, he writes about Teens driving safely,  I wanted him to do advocacy speeches...or perhaps this Magazine could promote these things in some ways. I don't want the 4 lives he took to be in vain,  I want his daily endeavors to be in honor of all of them, as well as those of us left here to deal with our losses.  I want my cousin back and our lives back, but I know that will NEVER happen, so in the meantime, I guess I want peace and awareness so that this TERRIBLE TRAGEDY NEVER HAPPENS TO ONE MORE FAMILY!!!

Thanks you for your time.

Spaceystarr

Article about Todd Standfield in may, 2011 issue

How dare you resurrect the pain of loss for the people Todd Standfield accidentally killed to sell a magazine. Did you ask the parents of those kids before you wrote this article? Did you get permission to run their pictures?

I personally know the parents of one of the kids who were killed.They still have tremendous trouble processing their son's loss.  Now you have not only dredged it up all over again but spread it to your large magazine reader base - to sell magazines with a sensationalist story. 
Shame on you and shame on 5280 for running it.