Dallas Cook
Back in Spring Break 2005, I flew down to Arizona to meet up with my mom to catch some awesome Spring Training baseball games, try my hand playing some Texas Hold'Em, and to catch my favorite band Gatsby's American Dream at this random venue in Tempe called Neckbeard's. It was a soda bar, and when I got there a concert was already going on. It was like four in the afternoon, and another show was wrapping up. What the hell was this place?
Gatsby's show was supposed to start at 5:30 pm, so I grabbed a beer and hurried back. The early show was still going on, so I asked the doorman if I could just go in. He said sure, and there was only like 50 or 60 people in there but they all seemed to be having a good time. The band on stage was a ska band called Suburban Legends and they were fantastic. They had all of what I love in a stage show - organized dance moves, crowd interaction, and fun tunes. In short, I freaking loved these guys.
After the show, the whole band came out to hang out as the next show prepared. I went out to talk to them, and the band was filled with some of the coolest guys I ever met. In particular, lead singer Tim Maurer and trombone player Ryan Dallas Cook were awesome, as they invited to go get milk and cookies with everyone (the audience was incredibly young) at a nearby store. And they did, yet I stayed to watch the show. However, I never forgot how awesome this band was and how great of people this band was.
Some seven months later, Dallas Cook died in a most terrible way. He was riding his motorcycle down Interstate 15 in Orange County when, unexpectedly, a stalled SUV appeared. Cook couldn't stop and he ended up crashing into the SUV, rocketing off and getting hit by oncoming traffic, dying in the process. A particularly horrible death for a great person.
Yet that isn't even the worst part. The driver of the SUV was a Hyundai executive who was on his way back from a company party, was drunk and had crashed his SUV into the wall. His car stalled, and shortly thereafter Cook came. Youn Bum Lee, the executive, quickly fled the country and to this day has not even spent a day in jail, being protected by his company and by his country.
Well on Wednesday, that changed, as Lee was extradited to face trial in Orange County for manslaughter. Over three years after his death, the man responsible for Dallas Cook's death will face justice. Cook was just 23 and was very successful for his age, and now his family can finally start healing, and justice can finally be served.
While it would have been better if it didn't happen, I'm glad Cook's family is finally seeing some sort of closure. Rest in peace finally to a great young musician.