Tabatha’s father expresses confusion, loss at her funeral

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003 | 9:12 a.m.

Michael Speas, the father of 13-year-old Tabatha Speas, said he felt confusion and loss as his daughter was buried Tuesday.

Hours before her death last Thursday, Speas told her neighbor that University Medical Center had sent her home too soon.

"I wonder if the hospital did let her out too soon," Michael Speas said before funeral services at Palm Valley View Cemetery. "I don't know if I'll ever have any answers."

The father greeted each person who came to the service with a hug or a handshake, his eyes shaded with sunglasses until he went inside the chapel for the memorial.

He broke into tears during the service attended by more than 100 friends, family and acquaintances, many of them crying openly throughout the 45-minute tribute to the Canarelli Middle School eighth grader.

An easel stood next to two guest books displaying photographs of Tabatha from the time she was an infant until she became a teenager.

Deloris Yeoman, a friend of the family, said that she could not believe that the driver who hit Tabatha had not been charged.

"People in this town are terrible drivers," Yeoman said.

Tabatha had been living with her mother, Melody Frenzel, in Las Vegas for about four months, Yeoman said. The mother works part-time at a hotel buffet.

Tabatha, who was born in Austin, Texas, March 4, 1990, has three brothers, Michael, Robert and Christopher, and a sister, Hannah.

A registered nurse, Traci Hart, had been called to Speas' home in Southern Highlands last Wednesday night to check Tabatha after she complained of chest congestion.

After treatment, Speas seemed fine and went to her room with her father about midnight to watch the movie "Hook." Calmly, she fell asleep.

A few hours later her grandfather checked on her and held the girl as she died about 3:30 a.m.

Speas and her friend, Adriana Lauzon, also 13, were struck by a car as they crossed Shinnecock Hills Avenue near Tucci Street on Oct. 15. Lauzon died Oct. 21 at UMC. The accident has resulted in a public outcry to put crosswalks into residential neighborhoods where traffic is heavy.

Speas, who had been in critical condition after her accident, had been discharged Nov. 2 from University Medical Center, but returned late the next day to the emergency room. Speas was again released early Nov. 4.

The Speas family did not have health insurance, friends said Tuesday.

Their daughter, Michael Speas said, had come out of a coma and had been discharged without any instructions for follow-up treatment or rehabilitation.

UMC spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger said all patients received "the best quality of care" the hospital can provide and a lack of health insurance plays "no role" in the decision to discharge a patient from the Clark County-financed facility.

Accounts to help defray medical costs for Speas and Lauzon have been set up at local banks. Donations to the Tabatha Speas fund can be made at any branch of Bank of America. Donations to the Adriana Lauzon fund can be made at any branch of Bank of the West.