April 30, 2022 was a beautiful spring day. Konstantinos, a senior in Brentwood Highschool, Brentwood TN, was studying for his AP exams. He had no reason not to be happy. He was a straight A student, was going to attend Purdue University School of Engineering, and would share a dorm room with his good friend Patrick Paneer. All that was left until graduation in about three weeks was a few exams. Then a visit in Greece to see his grandparents and on his return a really cool job was waiting for him at the Honda Power Sports dealer in Cool Springs. He had given his father a ride there several weeks ago to have the motorcycle serviced and decided it would be really cool if he got a job there and got to work with all sorts of machinery and be amongst some nice motorcycles.

Konstantinos was a relatively new motorcycle driver, a hobby he shared with his dad. His dad encouraged him to get a motorcycle license in order to share this hobby with his son, but Konstantinos’ mom was really against it. The two of them begged her to agree and she eventually relented. When Konstantinos took the two day motorcycle license course it was raining hard non-stop both days. His dad stayed dry watching him from the car. Konstantinos had never ridden a motorcycle before, let alone one with manual gear shifting, or driven a car with a manual gear box. “There is no way he will pass” his dad kept thinking, “he does not know how to shift, and he has to do all the exercises and tests in the rain”. Konstantinos however, didn’t make a single mistake. Not during the course and not during the test for the motorcycle driver’s license. He actually did better than his dad.

Motorcycle riding was not the only hobby Konstantinos shared with his dad. Scuba diving was another thing they did together. The summer of 2021 they had their first night dive together and KK -as he was known to his friends and family- said it was the best night of his life. Little he knew it would literally be true…

On April 30 he spent most of the day in the library getting ready for his Chemistry exam. He returned home early afternoon and was really happy and cheerful. After having lunch, he got on his dad’s motorcycle and went out to “meet some friends”. He met Bryanna in the library parking lot that afternoon. They both put their helmets on and rode for a couple of miles up Franklin Rd and past the Murray Ln intersection to the part of Brentwood that has the feel of a town: a bunch of restaurants and shops. Bryanna was his classmate, another Brentwood Highschool senior going to attend University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the fall of 2022. After a few hours, it was time to return Bryanna to the library parking lot and to her car. They were riding south on Franklin Rd, towards the intersection with Murray Ln. They both knew that road very well. Brentwood High School is located on Murray Ln and they were driving there through Franklin Rd every day to get in and out of school.

At that point it was late evening. It was 7:58 pm and the sun had just set. Konstantinos did not think much of this. He knew this road after all like the back of his hand, and it had barely got dark. The headlight of the motorcycle would come on automatically when you turned on the ignition and he felt secure in his conviction that he followed all the rules. He would signal when changing lanes, obey the speed limit, and always do a shoulder check in spite what you see in your mirror. Unfortunately, he did not count on Courtney Stanley being behind the wheel of Jeep Wrangler, and coming onto the Franklin Rd intersection from Murray Ln. Courtney Stanley had a red light and wanted to turn right on Franklin Rd from Murray Ln. She didn’t stop to look carefully if anyone was coming down Franklin Rd on her left.

She made a right turn on red and ended Konstantinos’ life on the spot.