the newspaper story

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Tinton Falls teen killed by car mourned 



Published in the Asbury Park Press 
By GEORGIA EAST
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
TINTON FALLS -- It was Dishawn Michael Laing's first week on his first 
summer job.

The 15-year-old Monmouth Regional High School student decided he would 
spend six weeks this summer volunteering in the maintenance department 
at the Red Bank YMCA, through a program sponsored by the high school.

His grandmother, Almira Bird, who raised Laing and his three brothers 
since they were toddlers, said the teen was excited about the new job.

"I didn't know Dishawn was looking for a job," she said. But when he 
found out he would be working at the YMCA, he proudly told his 
grandmother.

On Friday, on his way home from the YMCA at about 4:30 p.m. Laing, known 
to his grandmother and close family as "Shawny," was struck by a car 
while riding his bicycle and killed.

"I can't believe it," said Bird, "he was the kind of child that would 
walk in and say, 'Grandma, how was your day.' "

Police said Laing was riding his bicycle west on Newman Springs Road and 
made a left turn across the highway at Clifford Place, when he was hit 
by a car driven by Maxwell Moore, 18, Short Hills. Moore was not issued 
a summons.

Bird said Chris Thorton, a relative of the teen-ager, who was in the 
area around the time of the accident, held Laing in his arms until the 
emergency officials responded. Laing was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. at 
Riverview Medical Center.

"I'm so glad someone was there," Thorton said.

His family is now savoring memories as they wrestle with his death.

Almira and Robert Bird began raising their four grandsons about 12 years 
ago when their daughter, Marika Laing, the boys' mother, began 
struggling with personal problems. After their mother was back on track, 
the boys remained with their grandparents and maintained a close 
relation with their mother.

Laing was the second oldest of the four boys. He had an affinity for 
drawing and also enjoyed playing computer games, Bird said. "He wasn't 
an athlete," said Bird, "but he loved Sony and Nintendo."

Bird first learned about the accident from a man driving a candy truck 
in her neighborhood, but at that point the details were sketchy. She 
said her daughter began to worry when they learned it was an accident 
involving a boy on a bicycle, but at that time they did not know that it 
was Laing.

Bird said when she called the hospital and learned that the youth was 
light-skinned, she felt in her heart it was her grandson. Around the 
same time two police officers walked up to her door, she said, and at 
that point everything came together.

Looking back, Bird said she was apprehensive about her grandson riding 
the bicycle at first. After a while her fears subsided, and she says 
now, she understand her grandson's death was an accident.

"I feel bad for the boy who hit him, too," said Bird, who says she is 
taking it one hour at a time. Several of Laing's friends from his high 
school have stopped by the house to lend their support, she said.

Laing's funeral will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the St. Thomas 
Episcopal Church in Red Bank. 

Georgia East: (732) 922-xxxx, Ext. 4351.



Published on July 12, 1999 

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