Leah Victoria Fonte and Shane David Hirstius were both 21, engaged to be married, and walking home from a friend’s birthday party when police say a car left the road and struck them on the right shoulder early Sunday in Baton Rouge. Fonte, an LSU senior studying biological sciences on a pre-dental track, died at the scene. Hirstius, a volunteer firefighter with the Third District Volunteer Fire Department, died at a hospital hours later. A 20-year-old driver, Mia Camille Dawson, was booked on charges including operating while impaired, hit-and-run driving and vehicular homicide.
The loss echoes across any community that depends on volunteer firefighters. On the Suncoast, the people who staff our volunteer departments are neighbors first, responders second, and the grief when one of them falls reaches far past the station. Two young people with clear plans and generous instincts were lost in a moment nobody can take back.
For our listeners, the practical question is the one that always matters: who is getting home safe from the next late night out? Designate a driver, hand over the keys, or call the ride. What would make it easier for you or your family to always have a safe ride home?
