Tristan and India

This post should have been about my job. Or the garden. Or maybe the strange trip I had to Westport Connecticut. Or really, anything but this.

Yesterday, Francine and I got back from Mass and had a little breakfast. She was going to leave at about noon to make some photocopies and teach a knitting class. My plan involved laundry and writing. Watering the garden.

Francine’s daughter Michaela called at 10:59 in a complete panic. “Is Tristan OK?”

Now, for those that don’t know, Tristan is my son.

Michaela had heard that Tristan and his girlfriend India had been in a car wreck. No details.

Calls were made. Family gathered. We finally discovered just one confirmed detail: at 2:45 Sunday morning, Tristan was arrested by the Tacoma Police and charged with vehicular homicide.

Francine and I went down to the Pierce County Jail to try and see him. I was told (by a guard rather incredulous that I should even ask) that only his attorney could get in to see him.

Beverly and her mother, sister, and her friend Robin arrived and we gathered in our dining room. Robin has a more coherent account than I’m likely to give, and I hope she will forgive me for posting chunks of it here.

There were all kinds of rumors, but this seems to be what happened.

Tristan was at a party at some apartments near N. 9th St and Pearl St. The accident took place in the parking lot. He crashed into a tree. He was unconscious and listed as a “John Doe”. His girlfriend India (for whom he bought a promise ring and adores) was killed. He was arrested for vehicular homicide and is in the Pierce County jail. There is a record of it on the Tacoma Police Department website and there were no charges of DWI. Bail is $10,000.

He was put into an observation room until this evening for a suicide watch. The counselor there talked with Beverly on the phone and decided that he is not at risk for suicide. She (the counselor) asked him if he wanted to stay in the observation area or go into the general population. Apparently there are a lot of screaming people in the observation area, so he said that he wanted to go into the general area.

His arraignment is (today) at 1:30. According to the mother of one of his friends, during the arraignment, the judge asks if there is anyone there for him, and, if lots of friends and family stand up, the judge knows that he has lots of ties to the community and is probably not a flight risk.

According to one of his friends (Vince), the oil pan and the windshield from his car are still in the parking lot along with lots and lots of flowers. Tristan’s My Space page icon is a picture of him hugging India.

Both Beverly (Tristan’s mother) and I finally got to talk with Tristan in the evening. He sounds a wreck.

Please, if you are anywhere near Tacoma, come to my house today at noon or noon-thirty. We intend to descend upon the court en masse.

And please, pray for my son.

And pray for the soul of India Escobar.