Katie Marchetti—
A Life-Changing Moment No One Wants

By Lindsay Adkinson

It won’t happen to me.” That is what every teenager, and even some adults, believe. I know. I lived in that state of mind for 17 years. My best friend Katie Marchetti and I had lived for the moment every time we were together. Being spontaneous could describe the two of us. We had fun no matter what day it was. We always thought that nothing would happen to us.

Katie Marchetti

On the evening of March 3, 2006, my life and Katie’s life changed forever. At 10:30 p.m. that night, I called Katie on her cell phone, but it wasn’t her voice that answered. It was her boyfriend AJ. He was screaming into Katie’s cell phone. Katie was lying in the middle of I-75, having just been ejected from her car that AJ was driving. AJ was screaming and sobbing. I couldn’t understand all that he was saying. All I knew was that nothing ever could happen to Katie. That was not Katie’s and my plan. We were soul mates with so many plans and dreams.

I soon learned that AJ and Katie were driving back from a member of his family’s engagement party. Katie unbuckled her seat belt because she wasn’t feeling well, and she was tired. It was a Friday night, the end of a busy school week. AJ, too, was tired, but he had on his seat belt. Katie reclined her seat and unfastened her seat belt. AJ began to doze at the wheel. In a second, life changed for all of us. Katie’s dreams crumbled. Her life turned into an eternity at 5:53 the following morning at Tampa General Hospital when Katie died from her injuries. I was at the hospital all night. So were Katie’s family and friends. We cried, we prayed, we waited. It was the worst time in my life. I will never forget that night.

Just days after Katie’s death, her family realized their pain could have been prevented if she had fastened her seat belt. They have set up “The Katie Marchetti Memorial Foundation” to raise awareness on the importance of wearing seat belts. Katie’s family knows they cannot bring Katie back, but they want to prevent other families from losing their children or other family members.

On April 26, the Marchetti family took their cause to Tallahassee, FL along with parents and teens from five area high schools. Currently, Florida is the only state in the Southeast that does not have a primary seat belt enforcement law. The police can only pull over someone for not wearing a seat belt if there is another infraction of traffic law. Katie would be proud of what we are doing. I think she has already told us that, because the morning of our trip, as we were heading up I-75 to get on I-10, a huge, beautiful rainbow appeared off the left side of our buses. We were all overcome by its beauty and size.

 We all believe we can change the minds and hearts of the legislators in Tallahassee. We will not stop. Katie would not want us to stop. We want everyone to “Click It for Katie.”

Katie’s website www.thekatiemarchettimemorialfoundation.com has a link where parents and/or teens can click on the “Cross Your Heart Promise” pledge and sign the form to promise to fasten their seat belts every time they get in a car.

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