Questions surround teen's death on freeway

What drove a Santa Rosa teen to run through the dark into freeway traffic, ending his life as his younger brother and a friend stood on the overpass above, was an unanswered question Friday.

Joaquin Becerril Delgado, 17, was struck by a car and died on Highway 101 on Thursday night, leaving family and friends to wonder why.

Evidence of personal turmoil is abundant, from his reported drug use and an argument with his girlfriend, to his brother's account that he and Delgado had fought through the day, the CHP said.

Delgado, who had attended Ridgway, Montgomery and Santa Rosa high schools, dropped out last fall after sporadic attendance the previous year. His parents were not actively involved in his life, and he lived with a cousin and aunt, a friend said.

Authorities believe the teen "either intended to take his life by running in front of a car or he was so high on drugs that he didn't know what he was doing," CHP Sgt. Mack Lewis said.

Delgado was not himself when his cousin talked to him by phone Wednesday night and when she saw him Thursday morning, according to a friend, Emily Konnoff. His behavior was out of character, she said.

"There was never a time that I've known him that I did not want to be around him," Konnoff said. "He was always so happy. He was joking around. He was working for a while. He was trying to save his money."

She said she knew little about his family except that his parents "were out of the picture" and he and his 15-year-old brother lived separately with different relatives.

The brother told authorities he and Delgado were driving with an older friend on the Hearn Avenue overpass about 9:45 p.m. Thursday, and Delgado had been using drugs.

As their car headed east over the highway, Delgado either leaped from the car as it was moving or clambered out once it pulled to the side of the overpass.

He apparently ran to the west end of the overpass, climbed down a wooded hillside and lunged onto the freeway, Lewis said.

His brother and friend got out to try to find him, losing sight of him in the dark until they heard the sound of the impact on the freeway below. Delgado was struck and killed by a Mill Valley woman driving a Toyota Prius, the CHP said.

Elizabeth Gordy Arvidson, 61, said she saw the boy appear in front of her, but could not stop in time to avoid striking him, Lewis said.

Another vehicle stopped in front of Delgado's body to prevent other cars from hitting him, but the teen already had been fatally injured, Lewis said.

Ridgway High School Principal Robert Hucek, who said he didn't know Delgado well, said students traded news of his death via cell phone and text messages throughout the morning Friday.

"He barely came to school -- I mean barely -- and then he wasn't here for a whole day a lot of times," Hucek said.

Delgado, a senior, stopped attending in November, district officials said.

He had transferred from Montgomery High in December 2006. He earlier attended Santa Rosa High, moving to Montgomery in October 2005, Hucek said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan

@pressdemocrat.com.