A Life Cut Short

by Jean Scott

Who Killed Adam Downen?

Adam Troy Downen was 18 years old when he died: a healthy, intelligent and handsome young man poised on the brink of adulthood. He was described by some who knew him as charismatic — he attracted others to himself all his life. He loved people and people loved him. However, Adam’s intuitive grasp of the intrinsic goodness in others was not yet tempered by the maturity of judgment that age and experience bring.

Keith and Wendy Downen, Adam’s parents, described Adam as “naïve” about people, a trait that sometimes led Adam to champion friends his parents would have preferred he not associate with. One of those friends was Pelham McMurry.

“I killed my best friend!” was 17 year old John Pelham McMurry’s anguished cry when paramedics told him Adam was gone. Pelham was the driver, when on the night of May 21, 2000, at 2:00 a.m., his 1996 Nissan Maxima went out of control and ran off the road. The car slammed into a utility pole, flipped, and came to a final rest in a grassy field, on its top. Pelham and back seat passenger Michael Cover sustained minor injuries. Adam, who had won the draw for the favored seat beside the driver, was killed.

Although Adam “officially” could not be reported to have been wearing a seat belt because the buckle was never found, his body sustained the strong imprint of the shoulder belt across his chest, according to observations. A seat belt had saved his life when, five days after obtaining his driver’s license, he totaled his father’s truck. That accident could be attributed to inexperience, but Adam always wore his seat belt after that, according to friends. This time his seat belt couldn’t save him. His body was crushed in the impact; he never had a prayer.

Michael was to testify later that he saw a speedometer reading of 80 miles per hour as the car sped down Northshore Drive. Blood alcohol content (BAC) tests showed Pelham’s was 0.13 (the legal limit in Tennessee for an underage drinker/driver is 0.02; otherwise it is 0.10). Adam’s BAC was 0.10; Michael refused to be tested.

According to Michael Helton, M.D., of Park Med Ambulatory Care, the time lapse between the crash and the testing at the hospital was long enough to affect blood alcohol levels. How much lower they drop is determined by individual metabolism, but as a rule, young people’s levels will drop faster than adults.

Any advantage to the young in this phenomena is cancelled out by the greatly increased risk of addiction when drinking starts at an early age. Knoxville therapist, Nancy Mott, who works with addicts, says that addiction to drugs and/or alcohol in their early teens “freezes” their psychological development. They remain at that age so long as they are controlled by their addiction.

The urine drug screen proved negative for Adam, but Pelham’s showed positive for amphetamines. Since amphetamines (speed) are not easily obtained “on the street” today (at least in Tennessee), it has been suggested that it may have been Ritalin, an amphetamine-like drug commonly prescribed for hyperactive and/or attention-deficit disorder kids. Ritalin is falsely assumed to be safe by teens, who find it cheap and readily available. John Ammons, an alcohol and drug expert with Behavioral Medicine Department at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, stated that the combination of alcohol and amphetamines caused increased excitability and distractibility — qualities already present any time several teen aged boys get into a car!

In the Midst of Life We Are in Death

These words from the burial service never fail to startle, even disturb, listeners. How could this be true? How could this be true for someone so young, so alive — and so much in love with life as Adam was? Here was a boy who was active in his church youth group at Westminster Presbyterian Church, who had graduated from Bearden High School only three days before as a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, and Young Life. Passionate about athletics, he played on the BHS basketball team, worked as a lifeguard, held a black belt in karate, and coached kids in sports, as well as umpiring Little League baseball games.

Adam’s pastor, Fritz Schilling of Westminster Presbyterian Church, knew Adam well. He describes him as “a warm and winsome young man — you were glad you were with him when you were with him.” Pastor Schilling said Adam was “on a mission,” that is, he tried to affect others who might need some help.

This affection for — and keen interest in — other people shows up strongly in his neighborhood newspaper, “Edbury Drive Times,” which he published and edited at age 9. Reading between the lines, you find these bits and pieces about his neighbors reveal much about Adam himself. His family, parents, Wendy and Keith, brother Luke and sister Haley, are blessed to have these remembrances of Adam.

Adam Downen was a good kid. No saint, to be sure, but a good kid. A son any parent would be proud of. And he had everything going for him. Everything, that is, except statistics.

“In the midst of life we are in death” is a phrase more true for U.S. teens than for anyone else. Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. And driving after drinking is the leading cause of death and injury for both adolescents and young adults.

For teen drivers, the risk of a fatal wreck spikes with each teen passenger, according to new research. A 16 year old driver’s risk of dying behind the wheel rose by 40% with only one teen passenger on board. Obviously, a teenager is the safest when driving alone. The new graduated license law which went into effect in Tennessee in July should change these statistics for the better soon, it is fervently hoped by parents and law officials.

Yet, some young drivers have been paying attention to statistics, since the number of intoxicated teen drivers in fatal crashes dropped over 50% from 1983 to 1994, the largest decrease for any age group during that time period.

What happens when a bunch of young people pile in a car? The whole culture of the car changes! Seat belts come off, speeds go up, the radio blares, distractions for the driver increase with all the laughter and excitement generated by the group. Inexperience and immaturity are always factors to consider when a young person is behind the wheel, and adding alcohol to this already dangerous mix is a blueprint for disaster.

Alcohol is the #1 “drug of choice” for our nation’s youth. And beer is the #1 “beverage of choice.” And risk taking would appear to be the #1 “activity of choice.”

Dangerous Double Standard

Adam to Wendy: “I don’t go to parties to get drunk, I go to be with my friends.” But parties mean beer, and being with friends means drinking beer. And that’s what Adam was doing that night because a graduation party was going on at the home of Michael and Carol Testa for their daughter Leslie, also a new Beardon High School graduate. The word was out that there would be a keg, and the three boys, Adam, Pelham and Michael, arrived about 9 p.m. The party was in full swing, and the keg was already empty, but there was plenty of beer in the fridge.

The Testas played hosts, greeting kids and circulating to keep an eye on things. They had purchased the keg themselves for this party. There was a weak attempt at confiscating car keys, but with up to 50 teenagers on hand, the Testas soon gave up. They did turn away some kids who arrived with hard liquor. Why?

Did these otherwise intelligent and functioning people really believe that beer wasn’t alcohol, too? And who certified them capable to determining who was fit to drive? They had no testing equipment, to be sure. Did the Testas — and the McMurrys, and all the other affluent West Knoxville parents who give beer parties for their teenage children — buy into the media hype that beer and wine coolers were okay, because after all, “they’re just pretend alcohol with only a little kick?”

Not true! One can of beer or one wine cooler is equal in alcohol content to one mixed drink made with whiskey. No matter how you package it, booze is still booze.

This so-called “double standard” is nothing more than denial and irresponsibility. One might understand why the drinkers attempt to fool themselves, but the adults? The parents? Michael and Carol Testa played right into this game, and so did Pelham McMurry’s parents when they allowed him to drink at home with his friends. The McMurrys let Pelham throw drinking parties, and his mother gave him her credit card to purchase beer.

Do these parents — and they are not the only ones exhibiting such morally skewed thinking — feel any responsibility for endangering so many innocent lives just so their kids will think they are “cool”? Teens are quite adept at seeing through phony adult attempts at being “cool.” And they will take advantage of it every time!

Keith and Wendy Downen have filed a three million dollar lawsuit against the Testas and the McMurrys for the reasons given above. They felt justice would not be achieved in the criminal or juvenile systems, and they wanted to make a strong statement to the community about responsibility. Keith stated: “As parents, we must do a better job of protecting them from themselves because they’re still kids.”

Who killed Adam Downen? I did. You did. We all did.