Editorial: Standing up for youth lost in accidents and crime

We lose children every day.

There are a million ways every year that our most precious resource slips through our fingers. All of them are heartbreaking. All of them are terrible.

Nationwide, the total is about 37,000 annually, according to the National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention. In Pennsylvania, it’s about 2,000.

We lose them to diseases like meningitis and measles. We lose them to house fires. We lose them to drugs they take and to drugs their parents take and leave about, carelessly like candy. We lose them to suicide and negligence.

All too often, we lose them to accidents and homicide. Accidents are the leading cause of death for children in all age groups. Homicide is not far behind. For those 15 to 19, it is second.

But wait. You might look at that and think, “But 19 isn’t a child.” Statistically, sometimes it is. Many metrics put those 15 to 19, or even 24, in a single group because of similar risks and experiences.

The headline for Jacob Lazar’s death on July 4 read: “Penn Township man killed in storm cleanup accident was Eagle Scout.” Yes, Lazar was 18, a firefighter and legally a grown man. But he also was a high school student — and still his dad’s boy and his mother’s baby.

On Monday, hundreds of high school students, Scouts, firefighters and other emergency personnel turned out to pay respects to Lazar at Graziano Funeral Home in Jeannette. On Tuesday, the route to St. Boniface Catholic Cemetery in Hempfield was lined with even more first responders and supporters, flying flags and covering their hearts as they said their final goodbyes.

In Mercer County, another child is being mourned. The day before Lazar’s death, Pauly Likens, 14, was found dismembered at Shenango River Lake in Clark, more than a week after being reported missing. DaShawn Watkins, 29, of Sharon has been charged with murder, aggravated assault and more in the transgender teen’s death.

The two losses cover the broad spectrum of how accidental death and homicide hit home. Both were sudden and shocking. Both left holes in families and communities.

We cannot legislate against accidents like the one that claimed Lazar. He was doing what we hope everyone does — stepping up to serve his neighbors when the unforeseen happened.

We already have legislated against the kind of violent and unspeakable act that claimed Likens. All we can try to do is increase the protections for our most at-risk and marginalized individuals — especially children.

What we must do is continue to stand up for all of our children — and to stand by the ones who love them if and when the unthinkable steals them away.