It was a glorious afternoon for a round of golf last Friday.  The temperature was in the low eighties, a light breeze wafted through the pine trees of the Raleigh Country Club, and the handful of clouds seemed painted against the Carolina blue skies.  For Ray Cook, life was good.

Ray was a doctor, a plastic surgeon affiliated with the area’s largest hospital, WakeMed, and Premier Med Spa, a private practice facility.  He had his ticket punched in all the right spots:  graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine; completed his residency in general surgery and in otolaryngology at Duke University Medical Center; ran a highly rated and very lucrative practice.

 After his round of golf, Ray went into the country club’s lounge, where he had a few pops and reflected on his play.  He got into his Mercedes as the afternoon faded into evening and headed north, back toward his luxury two-story home in the exclusive Traemoor Manor subdivision in stylish north Raleigh.

It was a Friday evening, though, and the night was still young.  Ray got onto Falls of Neuse Road and stopped at The Piper’s Tavern.  Far from a seedy bar (there are no “bars” in North Carolina), The Piper’s is a family-friendly, casual dining place popular in its upscale residential neighborhood.

But tragedy can spawn even in upscale family restaurants.

Ray, already feeling the effects from the drinks he’d had at the country club, met a woman at the restaurant.  He decided to add another boxcar onto that train… and then another.  But after only two drinks, Ray was observed stumbling to the rest room by another patron, who called that fact to the attention of the staff.  The manager informed Ray and the woman they would not be served any more drinks, and escorted both of them off the premises.  The manager stated he assumed that the woman would be driving Ray home, but somehow she quickly disappeared from the scene.

Undeterred, Ray got behind the wheel of his flashy Mercedes…

Elena Bright Shapiro was living her dream.  Since the age of ten, she had wanted nothing more than to be a ballerina.  Unlike many young girls who quickly outgrow that dream, Elena pursued it.  She entered the North Carolina School of the Arts preparatory program, and stayed there throughout high school.  She spent her summers training with the Hungarian National Ballet, the Houston Ballet, the Miami City Ballet, and both the American and Canadian National Schools.  After a year of further training in Boston, she was returning home to perform with the Carolina Ballet. 

The beautiful 20 year old blonde was excited; in less than a week, she’d be dancing in the season-opening performance of the dance company’s version of Peter Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.  She had her elegant, trained foot on the next rung of her career ladder.

Elena got into her Hyundai sedan, heading for a cast party in Raleigh celebrating the anticipation of the coming season.

It was around 8:30 PM when Dr. Raymond Cook and Elena Bright Shapiro met in a grisly pas-de-deux near the intersection of Lead Mine Road and Strickland Road in north Raleigh.  Cook’s Mercedes, traveling at an unconscionable 90 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone, slammed into the rear of Elena’s Hyundai.

In one of life’s ironies, both the doctor and the ballerina were rushed to WakeMed Hospital, the doctor’s employer, a few miles from the accident site and a few blocks from the Raleigh Country Club where the sad saga began.  Cook was treated for minor injuries and released into the custody of the Raleigh Police Department.

Elena was not so lucky.  She died of her injuries soon after being admitted.

Two lives destroyed by alcohol.  One, a beautiful and talented young ballerina, snuffed out in the blink of an eye.  The other, a doctor in the prime of his life and career, destroyed by his actions last Friday.  Dr. Raymond Cook, originally charged with death by motor vehicle, had his charges upgraded to second-degree murder, driving while intoxicated, failure to reduce speed, and careless and reckless driving, apparently after the Raleigh authorities learned of a previous DWI conviction in Georgia in 1989.  He faces a minimum of 41 years in prison.  His career—his life—is effectively over.

Two lives destroyed, and who is to blame?  The doctor, certainly; the staffs at the Raleigh Country Club and The Piper’s Tavern, quite possibly.  As an acquaintance of mine in Florida used to say, is there anything more insane than a parking lot in front of a bar?

Sadly, apportioning blame will do nothing to restore the two lives destroyed.  For Dr. Raymond Cook, and for the family and friends of Elena Bright Shapiro, September 11 will always have a new and tragically personal significance.

It’s Friday—drink up, Shriners.

Dr. Raymond Cook voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine in the state of North Carolina and is currently free on a $250,000 secured bond.  Elena Bright Shapiro’s funeral service was held last Tuesday in Wait Chapel at Wake Forest University near her family’s home in Winston-Salem, NC.  The Carolina Ballet’s opening performance of its season took place yesterday, 17 September; the performance of Swan Lake was dedicated to her memory.

© 2009, Kenneth M. Rhodes