“Why should an innocent, beautiful life be lost?” said Christa Lane-Larsen.
As a widow, Lane-Larson knows that in grief, there are some questions no one can answer. And there have been a lot of questions since her daughter, Christina Larsen, was hit and killed on St. Charles Avenue on February 27.
And there have been a lot of them, since her daughter, Christina Larsen, was hit and killed on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans about two weeks ago.
“It’s awful. It’s absolutely the most heart-wrenching pain anybody can go though is losing a loved one. And the deeper the love, the deeper the grief,” said Lane-Larsen.
Christina was a Minnesota native who followed her passion to New Orleans eight years ago. She was a textile designer at NOLA Couture.
“She called herself an artist first, and then a designer,” said Lane-Larsen.
Christina grew up playing ice hockey with her dad as coach. She loved to read and design.
And almost exactly 10 years ago, Christina stuck by her mom when her dad suddenly became sick and passed away.
She’s described as a loving spirit with a huge group of friends. Lane-Larson got to meet some of them when she visited New Orleans after the crash.
“They all said what an amazing person she was. She made people feel welcome, no matter who they were. And she loved life. She loved to travel. She was so gifted artistically,” she said.
Lane-Larson is now echoing some community members’ calls for traffic calming measures along St. Charles Avenue.
Some have reached out to city council about installing signage to alert drivers to pedestrians. Those who live nearby say speeding cars have been a problem.
“It infuriates me. When we went to the site [of the crash], it was like, oh my God. No regard for human life. In Minnesota if there’s a crosswalk, you are by law required to stop. Just slow it down you know, slow it down,” she said.
Even though there’s been an arrest made in her daughter’s case, Lane-Larsen says it’s little consolation for the second tragedy her family has endured.
“My biggest question is why. Why is a good person taken from this earth? You know, why?”