April 1, 2004

Remembering a friend

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Nearly 1,000 mourners packed the Almaden Valley Mormon Church on Camden Avenue last Friday to pay their last respects to Troy Pollett who died March 20 of stab wounds.

Friends and family remembered the 18-year-old Leland High School senior as a loving young man born on Valentine’s Day who attended Bret Harte Middle School after moving in with his father in Almaden Valley in 1998 and was looking forward to graduation this summer.

A red-eyed and distraught Steven Pollett, Troy’s father, said the family is taking the tragedy “minute by minute.”
“I’m worried about my children because as hard as this is for me, it’s even harder for them, especially his younger siblings.”

Pollett’s mother and father divorced while Troy was in kindergarten. They had five boys. Steven Pollett then remarried and had one daughter and Debbie Schatmeier, Pollett’s mother, remarried and also had a daughter.
“There’s nothing I can do for Troy now, but I want to help his friends.”

Steven Pollett, a self employed businessman who’s lived in Almaden Valley since 1996, said he’s coping with the devastation by relying on friends and church members for support.

“I’ve been truly inspired by Troy’s friends. As hard as all of this was, they kept vigil at his memorial Monday through Friday 24 hours a day. That was very moving. It gave me a lot of strength,” said Steven Pollett of the makeshift memorial site on Sleepy Creek Way that was removed Saturday and taken to Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose where Pollett was buried. “I went to the memorial sometimes twice a day and every time I found a couple of hundred kids gathered there… all in honor of Troy. That was touching.”

Bishop Terry Hill, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, eulogized Pollett as a youth who was physically active, loved sports and wanted to study sports therapy or become a personal trainer.

He remembered how as a young child Pollett would fall asleep cuddled by his mother, Debbie Schatmeier, on a motorcycle as they rode over the dunes at Pismo beach, south of San Luis Obispo. “He never wanted to get off.”
A somber audience listened as many sobbed and comforted each other in the brightly-lit chapel. A dark brown coffin draped with a giant bouquet of white and purple irises and lilies remained inside the church in front of the podium while family members openly sobbed and comforted each other.

Bishop Hill recalled Pollett played Little League baseball and Little League football, liked basketball, swimming, wrestling, and was an avid skateboarder and snowboarder.

“Troy was a very respectful young man. He was respectful to adults as well as others. He was good-hearted, and very helpful,” said Bishop Hill.

The spiritual leader, who presides over Pollett’s mother’s congregation in Hollister, encouraged the shaken crowd to find hope and comfort in a belief of life beyond mortality.

Hill urged them to continue to have hope for this life, “a hope, that in making sense of the senseless, we recognize the Lord’s hand in all things and the supremacy of his will and his goodness for all of his children.”
As a boy, Pollett was taught faith in God as a Christian and as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Hill. He was baptized a member of the LDS Church in 1994.

Hill encouraged the mostly teenage crowd, many Leland High School students and alumni, to recognize Pollett’s tragedy and to recognize the worth of their lives. “As it matters to each of us that Troy passed, it matters to each one of us that each of you are alive.”

Hill also stressed that choices matter. “Part of the tragedy of the loss of Troy’s life is the loss of the potential of his life—the potential for good, for love, for association, for caring, for joy—for all that is good in life.”
“While our potential is infinite, much of the realization of that potential is dependent on our choices. Our choices do matter,” noted Hill. “There is no good you do in your life that doesn’t matter.”

“We need moral direction in our lives. We need to build our lives on a moral foundation that can withstand the storms of life,” said Hill. “If love had prevailed, this tragedy would not have occurred.”

“I challenge you to learn from this experience, to learn the lessons you feel today, to recognize the things that your heart tells you today,” said Hill.

Others who spoke at the funeral also remembered the buffed 6-foot, 2-inch tall blond, blue-eyed Pollett as gregarious and sociable.

Nicole Hurley, 18, who graduated last year from Leland High School, wrote a poem in honor of Pollett that she titled, “Our Angel.”

Openly crying, she read the poem to the audience. “Life is such a precious thing, and losing a friend makes you understand how your heart can sting,” read Hurley. “I have learned that it’s not what you have in your life, but who you have that really matters, and that’s why this tragedy makes all of our hearts shatter.”

Six of Pollett’s best friends, dressed in black suits with ties and wearing medallions with the victim’s name engraved on it and his birth and death dates, lined the podium and waited for their turn to speak. Many of them had Pollett’s initials or other words tattooed on their bodies to remember their friend. His girlfriend, Julina Lewis, 17, a junior at Leland High School, had the words “Troy’s angel” tattooed on her ankle. They had dated for almost two years.

Sean Ohare, 18, said, “I lost my best friend this weekend… I was lucky to have a friend like Troy…Friendship is about loyalty, love and understanding and Troy gave me all those things and so much more. I will never forget you buddy, rest in peace.”

Ryan Morrella, 18, lamented Pollett’s death and expressed concern about the future. “We will still have to deal with other stuff. Life is full of twists and turns. Troy would have wanted us to learn a good lesson out of this.”
Taylor Foos, 18, said although he didn’t know Pollett for long, the times he spent with him were precious. “When he died he left a piece of himself with all of us,” he said.

Anthony Teixera, 20, one of Pollett’s best friends, remembered playing basketball with him every day. “It’s going to be hard to know that we don’t have him on the court no more,” said Teixera, fighting tears. “I won’t hear him calling me with that Texas accent that I don’t know where he got.”

Amir Mahboobi, 18, said he was with Pollett the night San Jose police officials say Anthony John Sanchez, 22, stabbed Pollett to death in the predawn hours of March 20 on a quiet Almaden Valley street.
“I’m glad I got to be with him. I’m glad I got to say my goodbyes to him…I still hear his goofy voice that sounded like his nose was plugged.”

Mahboobi said, “It’s not worth a fight to lose somebody. Just walk away. I learned this lesson… because my friend is gone. I’m glad he got to go with me. I got to say my goodbyes… I’m really sorry about what happened.”

Sanchez was arraigned March 24 on murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose. He’s accused of fatally stabbing Pollett, and wounding his friend, Kris Johnson, 19, of San Jose, in an attack police allege was triggered by road rage.

San Jose Police Sgt. Steve Dixon told the Almaden Times Weekly that on March 20 at around 2:20 a.m., officers responded on a call of a stabbing in the 1000 block of Kiser Drive. On arrival, officers found two male stabbing victims. Pollett was pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics took Johnson to Valley Medical Center for treatment of a stab wound to his upper body.

Homicide detectives and crime scene technicians responded to the scene. Preliminary investigation showed Pollett, Johnson and Mahboobi were driving in the area of McKean Road south of Harry Road when Sanchez’s vehicle drove up behind them, said Dixon.

The driver of the other vehicle began flashing his lights and honking his horn. Pollett, Johnson and Mahboobi then drove into a nearby residential area followed by Sanchez and another unidentified passenger. Dixon said it’s believed Pollett and Johnson got out of their vehicle as Sanchez and the other passenger got out of theirs. After a brief exchange of words, police allege Sanchez pulled a knife and stabbed Johnson first and Pollett later during the confrontation. Sanchez and his friend then got into their vehicle and fled the scene, said Dixon.

Dixon said Sanchez is the only suspect in the homicide and the other stabbing. Officers set up surveillance at his residence and detained him as he returned home at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. He was taken to the San Jose Police Department and interviewed by homicide detectives. Detectives had sufficient information and evidence to book him for Pollett’s murder and Johnson’s stabbing. He was booked into Santa Clara County Jail for murder and attempted murder.

No further information is being released to the media as the case remains under investigation, said Dixon, adding that the affidavit with information gathered during the investigation has been sealed at the request of the District Attorney’s Office. The judge granted the request. “We’re not going to play this out in the press, we’re going to play this out in court,” said Dixon, alluding to several articles in the San Jose Mercury News that have attempted to recreate the events that lead to the altercation by interviewing witnesses.

Anyone with any information on the case is urged to call Detective Sgt. Will Manion or Detective Enrique Garcia of the San Jose Police Department Homicide Unit at 408-277-5283. Persons wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP.

The Troy Pollett Memorial Fund has been established to benefit the Leland High School Athletic Department. Those wishing to contribute may send donations to Greater Bay Banking, 400 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, CA 94031.