The recent high school graduates, close to the same age as his son, were headed to a friend's house at 8 p.m. on a Sunday a few years ago when another vehicle blew through a red light at 100 mph.
It killed them.
"It's tough to go into those situations and not transpose your child into the situation," said High Point Police Capt. Peter Abernethy, who was among the first responders that night.
First responders. Their job, quite often, is to deal with horror and death. Tragedies involving children can be especially haunting for them.
"It should always shock your conscious," Abernethy said of scenes involving the youngest victims. "That should never feel OK." Lately, there seems to have been a rash of incidents involving child deaths in the Triad. Like the murder-suicide that took the lives of two children and their 18-year-old brother earlier this month.