The only things that I have to memorialize my [child] are these ghost bikes. Hightman's father told Streetsblog that he has few reminders of his child, who used they/them pronouns, and called the ghost bike's removal heartbreaking and upsetting. There was also a ghost bike for Hightman in their native Virginia, but that was removed as well.
Kowal is a 48-year-old brown belt who hasn't competed in six years. But now, in late May, he is participating in a massive jiu-jitsu tournament in Long Beach, California, with the hope that winning his weight class could help him finally get bumped up to black belt. But more than anything, he hopes people will read his gi and help join what he calls the biggest fight of his life