‘All he wanted to do was ride’: Friends, family remember vibrant 14-year-old whose life was cut short

Kevin Reitmeier was barely 14 years old when he left this world doing what he loved most.

On the morning of July 1, he and four friends woke up from a sleepover and decided to take his moped out for a ride. The boys took turns, with Kevin steering each one around the neighborhood in wide, looping spins. He’d drop one off, then pick up the next. But on his fourth ride that morning, Kevin didn’t make it back.

Speeding through a St. Paul intersection, he missed a stop sign and was struck by a pickup truck at Ohio and George streets. A 13-year-old friend riding with him was critically injured. Kevin was pronounced dead at the hospital.

In the days since, family and friends have gathered at the corner where Kevin was hit — now transformed into a patchwork memorial of flowers, candles, teddy bears and “Call of Duty” memorabilia. Notes are taped up and down the stop sign pole, written on small strips of printer paper in the shaky handwriting of classmates, cousins, neighbors and friends. A six-pack of A&W root beer and a family-sized bag of Funyuns — two of Kevin’s favorite snacks — were placed at the base.

“He’s a fearless kid,” said Kevin’s uncle, Jameel Marshall. “He was the only one out of all the kids to jump from the boat in the middle of the lake with me. I’d leap off the boat and turn around and there’s Kevin leaping in right behind me.”

Kevin loved fireworks. “The kid was a firework himself,” Marshall said.

He was loyal and adventurous, said his aunt, Cherise Marshall. A boy who hosted hangouts and always had a plan.

“He loved lakes, beaches, fishing, swimming,” she said. “In the summertime, if he wasn’t wearing basketball shorts, he’d have on his swim trunks.”

He loved God, too. Every Sunday, Kevin went to church and read the Bible. He played video games with Marshall — “Call of Duty,” mostly — and rode his motorbike every chance he got.

“He loved to go fast. He’s a gearhead,” Jameel Marshall said. “He likes to do mechanical stuff. All he wanted to do was ride.”

Kevin’s grandmother, Stacy Schminkey, said he was always the first to offer a hand — skinny like his dad, but strong and eager to be helpful however he could.

“He always had something smart to say,” she said, laughing through tears.

Alejandro Navarro, 13, met Kevin in gym class last year. They hit it off right away.

“He’s nice to everybody and fun to be around,” Alejandro said. “I’m keeping a soccer ball he gave me to remember him. One day, we met up to play soccer and he had a ball and he just gave it to me to keep.”

Schminkey stood at the intersection on Thursday and pointed to the stop sign.

“Look at all of the vehicles that don’t stop,” she said, her voice breaking. “If you’ve got a 14-year-old on a scooter, and the adults in big cars are not stopping, the kids aren’t going to stop.”

She said that once her family has had time to grieve, she’ll begin pushing for a stoplight at the intersection.

“We’ve got businesses and citizens around here, and people talking on the news about how they knew something was going to happen,” she said. “They’ve been waiting for something to happen, and it happened, and it was my grandson.”

Marshall stood quietly for a moment, then said what everyone else already knew.

“All I wanted was for him to live life and grow up,” he said. “And the fact that he couldn’t even start his freshman year of high school kills me.”