THE NICK ADENHART STORY

By now, you're probably well aware of the story surrounding last week's death of Angels' pitcher Nick Adenhart, along with two other innocent, young people.

The reality is that an incident like this one affects many, many lives. Three people lost theirs forever, but they all leave behind families and friends who will be forever impacted by what happened. Two men in the vehicles struck survived, and must live with the harrowing events.

Amy Nelson of ESPN.com has an outstanding piece (kinda long and very sad, mind you) that breaks down the events of the evening. It's amazing to think about how small a chance it truly was that Andrew Gallo would meet up with that particular car at that particular intersection.

It's a little after midnight when Nick, Jon and Henry pile into Courtney's car, a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse, and set out for In Cahoots. At about 12:20 a.m., Courtney, with Nick sitting beside her in front, Jon behind her in back and Henry behind Nick, approach the intersection of Orangethorpe Avenue, heading northbound. Courtney is on Lemon Street, in the right-hand lane, seeing a green light all the way. She's less than a block away from the bar, or as Lt. Kevin Hamilton of the Fullerton PD said, "a tee shot away."

Another driver, Estevan Quiroz, is on Lemon Street heading in the opposite direction, facing Courtney, and inching out into the intersection, preparing to turn left onto Orangethorpe.

In the corner of his left eye, Quiroz catches a red blur, which in Quiroz's estimation a vehicle is traveling at about 90 mph. He wisely stops because, as he sees the blur, he can tell it has no intention of stopping.

Andrew Gallo, driving recklessly, not knowing why he's almost 20 miles south of where his night started in Covina, slams full speed into the passenger side of the Mitsubishi, where Nick Adenhart and Henry Pearson are sitting, according to police. Andrew doesn't even tap his brakes, T-boning the Mitsubishi, the force of the crash spinning the sports car across the intersection and killing Courtney and Henry instantly.

"A half-second before or after," Hamilton says, "and there's no impact. That's like taking one more brush of your hair."

As I mentioned, it's a very sad story, but one I'm glad Nelson was able to tell.

I'm pretty sure I don't have to mention the lessons one can learn from this story. Please give it a read.