PHILADELPHIA — Lynette Reid doesn’t like clutter. She keeps a tidy home in western South Dakota, and is quick to toss out anything she doesn’t need. But for the past 12 years, she has held on to an old cardboard box in her garage.
She isn’t sure why. Inside it are files that lay out, in painstaking detail, the worst day of her life: Jan. 22, 2010. Her husband, David, and her son, Garrett, were driving home from the movies. They were approaching Steele Canyon High School, near San Diego, when a red Ford Mustang suddenly collided with their Dodge Caravan.
The driver of the Mustang, 18-year-old Andrew Bellatti, was not drunk. He was not on drugs. He was just running late. As Bellatti approached the high school, a car pulled out of the entrance. It was a rainy day and the roads were slick, so he didn’t want to hit his brakes. As he accelerated, and veered across the double yellow line to pass, he lost control of his car. Garrett broke several bones. David died at age 50.
