Chief's Chat #35: Be Aware, Stay Alive: A Teen’s Voice After a Life-Changing Crash

A teenage girl watches her world change dramatically when her close friend is hit by a car while crossing the street. N'Evaeh's friend Stella is making a recovery, but the fear and helplessness she faced drove her to do something rare: N'Evaeh put the pain into words, and sent a raw, thoughtful email to Cape Coral leaders, and found out that people will listen when the message is clear and the stakes are human.

In this episode of the Cape CopCast 'Chief's Chat,' Chief Sizemore and Public Affairs Officer Lisa Greenberg talk with N'Evaeh about what sparked her advocacy, how writing can be therapeutic, and why “doing nothing is not an option” when community safety is on the line. We get into the bigger picture behind pedestrian safety and traffic safety in Southwest Florida: distracted driving, phone use while crossing the street, and how one small lapse can have a ripple effect, changing multiple lives at once. The 15-year-old's core advice is simple and hard to ignore: be aware. Look up. Put the phone down. Stay in the moment.

We also zoom out to the shared responsibility that makes safer streets possible, from drivers and pedestrians to bicyclists, e-bike riders, police education and enforcement, and smarter road design and infrastructure. The conversation ends with a hopeful update on Stella’s recovery and a reminder that one student voice can create real momentum.

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Navea

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Compcast Chiefs Chat edition. I'm one of your hosts, Lisa Greenberg. Mercedes is on vacation in Hawaii, actually. I'm very jealous of her. But we have two special guests today. Of course, we have Chief Sizemore, a regular for every Friday episode, but we have someone else very special with us today. We have Nivea. She is a ninth grader at Oasis. And we have her with us today to talk about something very important. So, Chief, I'll let you get started.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Indeed,

How Stella’s Crash Sparked Action

SPEAKER_01 0:33

we do. And thanks for having me. And thank you for being here, Navea. Of course. Um, Navea, like you said, is a freshman at Oasis High School. She lives here in the Cape. And how did I get connected with Naveea? Well, it's a it's a very sad story how that happened. Um, her friend Stella, and I'll let her tell you know the relationship and and how they're friends, but Stella was involved in a vehicular accident where she was uh crossing a Veterans Parkway and it was on the news and and and a lot of community um attention was put on it. And as a father myself of somebody of of that age, uh it had particular interest to me. Any any case like that as the police chief gets my attention and what happened and what can we do. But then to to also put a different hat on to be a Cape Coral resident that has a child uh around the same age, it it really got me. And then very shortly after that, I was forwarded an email that was written by Navea. And Nivea is a tremendous student, and I know that because of her writing, and and we were talking before we went on. That was not a chat GPT email. That was that was all you. Um, very good representation of the OASIS school system, I'll tell you that. But I read it and and there was a lot of pain, sadness, some anger, a lot of emotion and energy in that email, telling the story of your friendship and and what happened. And and what really struck me was that you had solutions. We need to do something and move this forward. So I I equated it to a ball of energy that needed somewhere to go. So, right, so when you have all those emotions, when something happens to you, it it starts to rev up like an engine, and you need to put it into drive. And you put it into drive by engaging in a very mature, intelligent, um, eloquent way. And I read it and and uh elected officials read it, the city manager read it, and he and I connected because he's similar to me in that he's got children that age, and and we care about the city and the people, and and the mayor and council got it, and it touched them. So we all kind of collaborated. What can we do? We'd we like to to push this forward. So, is there public service announcements that we could do? Are there videos that we can do, um, social media campaigns? And we have been doing it on this podcast about e-bike safety and bicycle safety and pedestrian safety. We we beat that drum a lot. So when they suggested would you do something from the police department side about messaging, I said, I've got a better idea. I want to meet this young lady because she has some kind of magnetism about her in her writing. And then in between that, you went to a city council meeting and spoke at Citizens Input and talked about the contents of that email with such passion and really got people's attention. And I said, 100%, I want this young lady in here on the Cape Copcast, and and we're gonna use this opportunity and platform to talk about you. Uh, you didn't want to talk about you, but I want to talk about you because you are a representative of the good in our youth. And for anybody who says this generation is different or um yeah, they're different because they're they're better. And you're just a great representation of young people. So I wanted to, you're very welcome. I wanted to highlight that. I wanted you to be able to to kind of share not word for word that email, but the story and the passion behind it to a broader audience, to the community. And then I want to pivot and talk about what what would you like to say? So I I'll wait for that. You know, we'll kind of guide you through, but they didn't tune in to listen to me. They want to they want to talk to you. So, Navea, tell me about you and um your Cape Core resident and go to school, and and just tell me about that, and then tell me about your friendship with Stella.

Turning Pain Into A Public Message

SPEAKER_04 4:50

Okay. So, like you guys said, I'm a freshman at uh Oasis High School. Um, I'm in ninth grade. I'm a I'm a great student. A great student. I'm a great student.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

You are.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

You are for sure. We know by that email.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

And me and Stella met last year in eighth grade, in my eighth grade year, her seventh grade year. We met last year. Um we we were very close at first. It was like it was a very tight connection as soon as we met. So it's like it's not like someone that you meet and you're like, oh, like we talk a little bit and then we got closer. No, me and Stella were close immediately. Um, everywhere that like you went, you saw me and Stella everywhere in school. It was all the time in the hallways, waiting for each other and passing all the time. So me and Stella very close bond. Um, and then hearing what happened to her, it not only caused me like pain, but it caused everybody else pain. Everybody who knew her was upset and uh definitely influenced by what happened. So it was nothing small.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Um it's a shockwave in in a your guy's world.

SPEAKER_04 5:57

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

So like a sister to you. Definitely. And and for that to happen, it was a deep impact.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

Of course. Yeah. It's it was very, very sister bond. It was always laughing, always doing everything together. I felt like I could say anything to this girl and she would understand me.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

So we kind of grew distant when I got to high school, but it still remained like I could text her and she would text back.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

She was still in eighth grade and you had started at the high school. So a a natural, but you're you're still still very close.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

Yeah. It was it was never like we stopped talking and now I can't talk to her. Like I always knew she was there for me.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Right.

SPEAKER_04 6:37

So, of course, hearing the case that happened and what happened, I wanted to be there for her. When she couldn't have a voice, I wanted to be that voice because she was always that for me. So self-like seemed like I should do something back.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

That's a good way to put it when you say I want to be her voice, and that's exactly what you did. You advocated for her, and and it was almost like you were channeling for her and getting it out. So, what when did you make the decision to kind of put your feelings and energy on paper?

SPEAKER_04 7:09

Okay, so the first I'd say half a week that happened, three, four days. I just I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I felt hopeless. I felt like I'm young, I can't do anything. Like no one will listen to me because I'm so young. But then my mother, she she knocked some sense into me and was like, Nivea, you're so good at writing. Why don't you write something? Why don't you get your story out there? Because no one should ever feel hopeless. You can't feel like you can't do anything. You can do something, right? No matter how young you are, no matter how much of a little impact you think you have in your community or your city, you can always do something.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

So but two things there. Writing is very therapeutic, right? Definitely take this story out of it. If you're mad about something, you can fire off something and it feels good to get it out.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

And then you take this situation, you have you're able to release a little bit. And I'm just a young person, no impact. Look at you now.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Right.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

So you shouldn't feel like you can't ever do anything. But again, writing is therapeutic, like very therapeutic. So being able to write something and not only write something, but have people hear it and want to do something about it, it definitely changed my attitude and my emotions toward the whole situation. It made it a lot better for me because I can't just sit there and, you know, just have my emotions bottled inside. It's definitely good to get it out.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

It's your opportunity to change the world. Right. Right? You hear that, you hear it at graduation speeches or or you know, I'm you're gonna change the world. Well, the world is an inanimate object, it's a big giant ball. Can't go on the side of the earth and go, I'm gonna change the world. You change the world by things that you did. Small impact action, doing nothing is not an option. You probably heard that a million times. That's one of my phrases here. Doing nothing is not an option. You have to do something,

Taking The Story To City Council

SPEAKER_01 9:06

and you channeled it positively, and you have impacted and affected change. So you wrote the email. Who how did you even know who to send it to?

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Well, I have I have connections with um people who work for the city. So I have a good uh my mom's good friend of mine, she watched me grow up. Uh, her and her boyfriend uh both work for the city. I forgot how, sorry, but they both work for the city and they kind of gave my mom and me some information, my family really, on how I can make a difference, even something small, like I can doing nothing is not an option. So I could definitely take action.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Yes. So you were given um some information to contact your elected officials. So it was the mayor, the city council members, so there's eight in total. So those eight, and then the city manager was contacted. That probably came from uh your mom's friend to go send it to him because he's a very influential person, too. And then I'll take it from there. They received it, and I think it was in the uh afternoon or evening that you sent it.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

Around there, yeah, I'd say evening.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

That evening, the city manager got it and he called me. And I was probably watching Netflix or something, I don't know. And he goes, Hey, check your email. I just sent you something, read it, call me back. I want to do something. I'm like, what are you talking about, man? So hung up, I read it, and uh now I know why he called me. I said, Wow, and it was your email, and I said, We do have to do something. And when I called him back, um, I said, What did you have in mind? And he was, we gotta get the messaging out. We've got to we've got to do some social media posts, we gotta do like a campaign, a steady you know, push. I said, I've got a platform that we can do, and it's not just me saying it, it's not just Lisa saying it or anybody else. I want Naveya to say it because I can't say it like you did.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

So that's that's why you're here. So that's how we got acquainted and we know about your relationship with Stella. And then what prompted you to go to the city council meeting? Because the that's an I'll say an interesting environment.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

We'll leave it in. It was definitely definitely scary at first, but I've I've kind of always been okay with public speaking. I wouldn't say great, but okay with it. Um well, my mom's friend, she told me, she said, Nivea, if you want your story to really get out there, you can't just hide behind a screen and say something. You have to say it. You have to say it like from your heart. You have to say it. And I was like, okay, how do I say it? She was like, Well, there's a city council meeting tomorrow. I went tomorrow. She was like, Yeah, tomorrow. You got it. And I was like, okay. So I started to type something out, sent the email out. And then I was like, Well, if I again, if I really want my voice out there, I have to go and say it. So I went to that meeting and I spoke during the what is it called? The citizen's input. Yeah. So I spoke during citizens input. I saw the first one. It was definitely scary at first again. Sure. But um I realized that I can't hide behind a screen and just type what I want to say. Again, something therapeutic. If I really want something to change, I have to say it.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

So gotta do it and do the do the hard things. Right. If it was easy, and this is for anything in life, if it's easy, then everybody would do it. Right. And it wouldn't have any value. But doing something difficult or hard is how you achieve big things. And by doing that, it the momentum, you didn't know it, was already rolling, but then you really accelerated it to get it going. So that brings us here today. And what I'd like to do is we have members of the community that watch Cape Coral, the greater Southwest Florida region. I even know somebody in Tennessee who watches it. So shout out to Augie in Tennessee who's watching us today.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Loyal listener.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yep. What would you say?

What Drivers And Pedestrians Can Do

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Because I'll say it this way. When you see a story like that, it touches a lot of people. Right? You got a young girl who was living her life vibrant and and got hit. And not getting into the specifics about it, um, this wasn't a hit and run. This wasn't a a this was a tragic accident that happened, right? So not assigning blame to anybody. What I what I do want to say is that when you're looking at these stories on your phone, which is what a lot of people do, and you're scrolling through, some people see it and go, oh man, and scroll beyond. Other people have people in their lives that are around that age and they may read it and go deeper. You may have people that start to take a little bit of action, and and somebody all the way up to and including you, who is driving the train. So, to the people in the community, I think it's important that we let them know or remind people that these are real human beings that are impacted. Stella was impacted. I can tell you that the driver was impacted. They didn't wake up that day and have that on their bingo card.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

It's it's very impactful emotionally, uh, physically for what Stella's going through. And we can talk about an update, positive update for her. But it also impacts the parents and the friends. And when you look at school age, your circle is as big as it's ever going to be when you're in high school. As you get older, your circle of people that you hang with gets smaller. But right now, there's so many people that are impacted because everybody's unique, but you're all the same. You're all going to school, you're all moving forward. There's a lot of similarities. So I see my story in you, and you see your story in me when you're at that age. So it really impacted your friend group and school group. What would you say? Because now that everybody knows that that that's a real story, a real person, somebody that that does what we do here, what would you say to drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, e-bikers? What what would be from somebody, a stakeholder in the story, what would you tell them about what we can do, not what has happened. What can we do?

SPEAKER_04 15:47

Right. I just I would say be aware is the biggest thing. You know, don't text and drive, the look up when you're crossing. It's be aware because something so little as being on your phone when crossing the road or being on your phone while driving, or just not paying attention to what's going on on the road in front of you at that moment, it can cause something so big.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Like immediate.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

Exactly. So when you aren't aware and you aren't like, you know, really thinking about what could happen, not even in a scary way, like what could happen. You're not like you're not really in the moment. So when you don't think about what could happen, it's it's definitely very like I don't know, it can cause big things.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Absolutely. It impacts real people, right? The people that we were just talking about. Right. There, there's you who can't sleep. There's Stella who's in the hospital recovering her family, who they had plans, right? And all of a sudden your plans are stopped because real life has has taken over. There's a formula that when you're driving at certain speeds and it and it increases the distance based on the speed. But on like uh veterans or Santa Barbara or Del Prado, those are pretty heavy speeds that you're going. You look down every second or every few seconds, you can travel the length of almost a football field before you look back up and look what could happen in in a football field full of people in other cars. It's just very, very dangerous. So I guess what I'm getting from is it it takes everybody to pay attention.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

Exactly. It affects everyone, not just the driver or the person hit. It affects everybody.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

And so and it affects everybody and impacts everybody, and it's also the responsibility of everyone.

SPEAKER_04 17:33

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

All the stakeholders involved in safe traffic,

Everyone’s Role In Traffic Safety

SPEAKER_01 17:36

safe traffic. You gotta have properly designed roads, you have to have infrastructure in place, you have to have police to be able to do education and enforcement. Um, you have to have drivers that pay attention, you have to have pedestrians that pay attention, not walking and texting. And again, when we talk about these solutions, we are not talking about Stella's case. We're not getting into those details. It's important to know that. So I'm not picking on anybody, but in general, don't walk and text. Don't walk and read a book. We saw that right recently. Um earbuds while you're riding your bike. Not a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Be aware.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Be aware. Um and then you get into driving um the radio, the phone, eating, just not paying attention, drowsy, distracted, impaired. There's so many different things that drivers need to do, pedestrians need to do, police need to do, engineers need to do. So everybody has a part to play in our big production.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

And for the movie to be a good movie, everybody's got to do their part. No no one if everybody was lawless except for pedestrians, it wouldn't work. Because you need the drivers to do their part. If drivers are perfect, but pedestrians are darting out all over the place and bikes are going, it wouldn't work. If the police just didn't show up, it wouldn't work. Or if traffic engineers said, eh, just design it. Or don't design it, just just pave it. It wouldn't work. Everybody plays their part. And I think that's what you're saying is that your part does matter. And it's important because it impacts so many more people. The the the pebble in the pond has a ripple that goes way out. That makes sense. Yeah. I I think you hit it head on.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

If you can, um what's the status of of your friend and

Stella’s Recovery Update And Closing

SPEAKER_01 19:46

her recovery?

SPEAKER_04 19:46

And well, I called her um the other day for an hour and a half, and she's doing very, very well. Oh, that's excellent. She's doing she's doing very well. Um I don't know how many details I can share, but she's like she's recovering, she's recovering very quick.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

That that's enough detail right there for everybody. That is a lot of people have been praying. A lot of people have been really hoping to hear something like that. And do you do you have any contact with her mom?

SPEAKER_04 20:13

And I have um my mom has her mom's Facebook, so Stella knows I've been stalking you like a creepy person every day. I've just been wanting an update because I can't stand the thought of her not being okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Well, I tell you what, the the medical staff are phenomenal. They're doing their job.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Um, I'm a faith-based person, so I know he's doing his job. And you have done more than your job to advocate and shine a light on what we're doing. And I think your message that it matters and everybody needs to do their part because there's real people that are impacted is going to resonate. And I'm super thrilled that you came in. Probably weird getting an invitation from the police chief. Would you come in to the police station, number one? That's intimidating, but we've already established that you do scary things, right? You're not afraid to do that.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

No.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

And then not only would you come in to talk to the police chief, would you go on a podcast? You're probably like, I'm getting pumped, right? This can't be real. But you did it and you got your story out, and you are somebody that I am proud of. I know your parents are proud of you. The OASIS school system's proud of you. The city of Cape Coral is proud of you, and you have a tremendous future ahead. Keep doing hard things, keep doing things that are scary, and keep writing. We need more writers.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

It's true, we do. You did so incredible. And your parents are in here with us right now, and I'm sure they are so unbelievably proud of you. I mean, you're like a dream child. This is like every parent's dream to have someone so well spoken. So you did an awesome job. You should be so proud. All right. Anything else, Chief?

SPEAKER_01 21:54

You hit a home run and we're about ready for the weekend, huh?

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Oh, yes. Yes, we are. And um, we'll continue. uh sending our prayers to Stella for a continued positive recovery.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Awesome. All right. Well thank you so much for joining us and we will catch you next time. See ya.