To the Woman Involved in the Crash That Took My Son’s Life

By Samantha Vogel | Long Island Daily News

Two years ago today, on August 21, 2024, my son, Logan Vogel, died in a motorcycle crash at Route 25A and Oakland Avenue in Miller Place.

For some people, what happened that night may be remembered as a news story.

For me, it was the moment my entire life changed.

And today, two years later, there are words I have carried inside me that I need to say to the woman involved in the crash that took my son’s life.

You may have been able to continue living your life, but my son never got that opportunity.

Logan was 20 years old.

He had just gotten engaged.

He was a mechanic. Motors had fascinated him since he was a little boy, and motorcycles became one of his passions.

He had plans.

He had dreams.

He had a future.

Then, shortly before 10 p.m. on August 21, 2024, everything changed.

What Police Said Happened That Night

The morning after Logan died, Patch published the first account of the crash based on information provided by Suffolk County Police.

Police said Logan was riding his Suzuki GSX-R600 westbound on Route 25A when his motorcycle struck the side of an eastbound 2017 Toyota Prius as its driver was making a left turn onto Oakland Avenue.

The crash happened at approximately 9:55 p.m.

Logan was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Prius, a 49-year-old woman from Sound Beach, was not injured.

Police also said that no charges were filed, and both vehicles were impounded for safety checks.

Those are the facts that were reported publicly.

But there is another side of this story.

There is what happened after the police left.

There is what happened to Logan’s family.

There is what happened to his mother.

Do You Ever Think About Him?

There is something I have wanted to ask you for two years.

Do you ever think about Logan?

Do you remember his name?

Do you ever think about the young man who was on that motorcycle?

Because I think about him every single day.

His name was Logan Vogel.

He wasn’t simply “the motorcyclist.”

He wasn’t a motorcycle lying in an intersection.

He wasn’t a paragraph in a police report.

He wasn’t another statistic.

He was my son.

And behind the news report about a motorcycle and a Toyota Prius was a family whose entire world was about to be shattered.

He Had Just Gotten Engaged

Two years later, I still think about everything Logan should have experienced.

He had just gotten engaged when he died.

Think about that for a moment.

He was beginning to imagine an entire future that he would never get to live.

He should have had more birthdays.

More Christmases.

More adventures.

More time with the people he loved.

He should have had the opportunity to grow older.

To build a career.

To build a family.

To discover who he would become.

Instead, I will spend the rest of my life wondering about all those things for him.

I Live With the Consequences Every Day

There is no clocking out from grief.

There is no vacation from missing your child.

There is no morning when I wake up and suddenly forget that Logan is gone.

I live with his absence every day.

I know what it feels like to reach for the phone and remember that I cannot call my son.

I know what it feels like to look at photographs knowing there will never be a new one.

I know what it feels like to watch birthdays and holidays arrive without him.

I know what it feels like to visit my son’s resting place when what I really want is to visit him.

And I know what it feels like to stand at the intersection where my son’s life ended.

For two years, friends, family members and members of the community have continued visiting that location. Flowers and candles have been left beneath a sign bearing Logan’s name.

That intersection isn’t simply Route 25A and Oakland Avenue to me anymore.

It is the place where my son took his last breath.

No Charges Were Filed — But I Still Want Answers

The original police account said no charges were filed in Logan’s crash.

Two years later, that fact has not erased my questions.

It has not erased my grief.

And it has not erased my desire for accountability.

I have said publicly what I continue to feel today:

I want justice for my son.

Justice isn’t about hatred.

Hatred will not bring Logan back.

Nothing will.

For me, this is about answers.

It is about accountability.

It is about understanding how a 20-year-old young man with his entire future ahead of him could leave home one day and never return.

And it is about refusing to allow his death to become just another crash that people eventually forget.

Logan Was More Than the Way He Died

One of the reasons I continue speaking publicly about Logan is because I refuse to allow the circumstances of his death to become more important than the life he lived.

Logan was a mechanic.

He loved motors from the time he was about seven years old.

He became part of the motorcycle community.

He loved working on machines and then seeing what they could do.

He was engaged.

He had people who loved him.

He had a mother who expected to watch him grow older.

He lived.

He mattered.

And his story deserves to be remembered.

This Is Also About Making Route 25A Safer

My fight isn’t only about what happened to Logan.

It is also about what happens to the next person traveling that road.

Route 25A has seen far too many serious and fatal crashes.

And crashes involving motorcycles and vehicles making left turns are something every driver should think about.

Look twice.

Slow down.

Pay attention.

See the motorcycle.

See the human being riding it.

Because the person approaching that intersection is somebody’s child.

Somebody’s husband or wife.

Somebody’s father or mother.

Somebody’s best friend.

And one moment can leave another family living with consequences that last forever.

I want that road to be safer for everyone — not just motorcyclists.

If Logan’s story causes even one driver to pay closer attention, perhaps another mother will be spared the pain I live with every day.

To the Woman Involved in the Crash

If you ever read this, I want you to understand something.

You didn’t know Logan the way I did.

You didn’t watch him grow from a little boy fascinated by motors into the young man he became.

You didn’t experience all the ordinary moments that made him Logan.

But I hope you understand that his life had value.

I hope you understand that there is a mother who has spent two years learning how to exist in a world without her son.

I hope you understand that his family will carry this loss forever.

And I hope, somewhere inside you, you remember him.

Because I always will.

I Will Continue Being His Voice

I am Logan’s mother.

I was his voice from the day he came into this world, and I will continue to be his voice now that he cannot speak for himself.

I will say his name.

I will tell his story.

I will ask questions.

I will seek answers.

I will advocate for safer roads.

And I will continue fighting for the justice and accountability I believe Logan deserves.

WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN.

WE WILL NOT BE SILENT.

WE WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING.

Not because I can change what happened on August 21, 2024.

I can’t.

But Logan cannot stand here and fight for himself.

So his mother will.

Two Years Later

Tonight, two years after Logan died, candles will once again illuminate the place where we lost him.

Family, friends and members of the community will gather.

We will remember him.

We will speak his name.

And we will make sure that the darkness of that intersection is filled with light.

Because August 21 will never simply be another date to me.

It is the day my world changed forever.

Logan, your mother is still here.

I’m still speaking your name.

I’m still telling your story.

I’m still fighting for you.

And I always will.

LOGAN VOGEL.

You mattered then.

You matter now.

And as long as I have a voice, you will never be forgotten.

Forever loved.

Forever missed.

Forever my son.

Forever in our hearts. ❤️🕯️

JUSTICE FOR LOGAN VOGEL

#JusticeForLoganVogel

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