Berthoud – Having left junior high school behind, Shawntae Taylor, 15, cruised the rural county roads with friends, summer days and high school dreams ahead of her.
But a missed stop sign ended it all.
The A student from Fort Collins who had spent the last day of class signing yearbooks, the giddy girl who recently won a spot on the varsity dance team at Rocky Mountain High School, was killed in a two-car collision Wednesday.
“Instead of being a beginning, it was an ending,” said Sandy Bickel, Shawntae’s principal at Webber Junior High School in Fort Collins. “We cried a lot this (Thursday) morning.”
Shawntae’s friends, Brenden McBride, Kurtis Soeby and a teenage boy, who was driving, survived the crash. Soeby was in critical condition Thursday evening after being ejected from the car. The driver was released from the hospital.
Friend Jared Fahl visited McBride’s hospital room Thursday. He said the 16-year-old broke his neck, pelvis and several ribs. His lungs were collapsed.
No one in the car was wearing a seat belt, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Authorities also said there was drug paraphernalia in the car.
The crash happened just days after the State Patrol launched a statewide campaign to encourage Coloradans to use their seat belts. In Weld County last year, 78 drivers and passengers died in traffic crashes; 51 of them did not use seat belts.
Hallie Stutzman and Kaley Boyd, both 15, said Shawntae was the third member of their group of “Three Musketeers.” The trio were such good friends that they decided to take each other to Formal two weeks ago.
“I think we are still in shock,” Stutzman said. “I never really said goodbye to her … just, ‘Call you later.”‘
Boyd said Shawntae was always making jokes, doing whatever she could to get her friends – or anyone else – to smile.
The two girls were among about 20 who visited the crash site Thursday. The group pinned Shawntae’s dance slippers to a nearby telephone pole. They even spoke to Stephanie Bender, who witnessed the crash from her home.
“Just to know what her last moments were like was really important,” Boyd said later. “It is a big awakening for all of us. It just shows you, you should choose your friends wisely.”
Later, a group a friends from Berthoud High School visited the site to pay similar respects to Shawntae and their classmates.
Fahl said McBride, his close friend, had a big summer in the works.
McBride’s brother, Seth, soon will be deployed to Iraq, and the family planned to visit him before he left. And a large group of friends had planned a bash for McBride’s birthday next month that coincides with the Summer Jam concert at Red Rocks.
“We’re just thinking about all of them,” Fahl said. “This has really affected us. … This is a real wake-up call for us about seat belts and everything.”
Fahl said the drug paraphernalia authorities found in the car were likely a “bong,” or a pipe for smoking marijuana. But he said that would not have been related to the crash.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said.
These two groups of friends were linked after McBride and Shawntae met at the Sundance Steakhouse & Saloon – a Fort Collins club that holds a teen night on Sundays.
Shawntae loved to go there and showcase her dancing skills.
“She was just the perfect person,” said Kris Koontz, a mutual friend of Shawntae and McBride’s.
On Thursday, Shawntae’s friends all remembered that she would not let them say goodbye as they left for summer.
“The last thing she said to me was, ‘Don’t say goodbye, say I’ll see you tomorrow,”‘ said 15-year-old Amanda Fairbanks. “The last day of school was the last day of her life.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 720-929-0893 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.