Oct
25
Bridge deaths prompt six teens to act
Filed Under EN
ANAHEIM – After school and on weekends, friends of 18-year-old Jazmin Muñoz gather at the site of her death under a bridge at Euclid Street and I-5 to light candles at her memorial and quietly remember the teenager who died months after her high school graduation.
They talk to Jazmin as if she were still here. Remember the good times. And, of course, they weep for her, the girl they knew as Jazzy, who was loud, bubbly and always the leader.
Inevitably, they look up toward the bridge and wonder: Why did Muñoz choose to end her life on that early Monday morning in September, at the same spot where her dear friend jumped to her death 15 months earlier?
And why was it so easy to get over the side of the bridge? Shouldn’t a fence be built that would prevent – or at least discourage – somebody from making the 40-foot jump?
Could they help save a life and prevent the overpass from being memorialized as Suicide Bridge?
Six of her friends, all seniors in Anaheim High School’s Independent Learning Center – a program aimed at helping students behind on school credits catch up – turned their grief into action.
And these so-called at-risk students quickly prompted change.
They requested a meeting with Councilwoman Lorri Galloway, who’d spoken in their class before.
Galloway, impressed, said she’d help. First, though, she requested that the young women – all 16 or 17 years old – come to a City Council meeting and speak so the whole council and the public could hear their story.
On Tuesday night, six of Muñoz’s friends – Ashley Rodriguez, Lizbeth Galicia, Vanessa Lua, Ashley Breceda, Lizeth Estrada and Lesslie Obregon – took her up on that offer.
They requested that a 6-foot-tall fence be built on the bridge to discourage any pedestrians from easily getting over the small wall, which now has a 2-foot-tall barrier and a 40-foot drop to a street below; the girls jumped at the spot that overlooks an asphalt side road leading to businesses next to the freeway.
“We can’t solve the situation, because we lost our friend,” said Lua, 17. “But to know that we might be able to do something to save another life – that feels really good to try to do something good for Jazmin.”
Muñoz’s sister, Blanca Mendivil, 28, said her family appreciates her sister’s friends, who, in addition to seeking change, raised $1,000 to help pay for funeral expenses.
“When I told my mom about what they were doing, that they wanted to talk to the City Council, she was really surprised. She said, ‘Who’s doing all of this?'” Mendivil said. “We don’t want any other family to go through the pain we have.”
As the council members listened to each teen and to Muñoz’s family members, some wiped away tears.
School advisers had warned the girls not to expect immediate results. The wheels of city government turn slowly.
Usually.
City officials – who’d been studying the issue since the teens’ meeting with Galloway – immediately vowed to build a taller fence. It will be 6 feet high and 350 feet long, and cost of about $48,000. It should be up by January.
Mayor Tom Tait applauded the teens’ effort, saying it reminded him of a popular saying: “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
The teens know this is just one bridge, and that those in despair could find plenty of other bridges.
So they are also focusing on helping others, especially Latinas, who are facing challenges. Rodriguez compiled research citing a 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showing that one in five Latina high-school girls has seriously considered suicide.
The girls plan to form a youth council, along with the League of United Latin American Citizens, to address some of the underlying issues that face young Latinas – domestic violence, teen pregnancy, lack of employment opportunities.
Joe Casas, a counselor in the school’s independent-learning program, called the girls’ actions the highlight of his two decades in teaching.
“They make me a better counselor,” he said. “We talk a lot about not just getting your diploma, but doing the things that make them better women, better examples wherever they go.
“Each one of them is a hero.”
Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or ecarpenter@ocregister.com
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