13-year-old killed in e-scooter crash had ‘a golden coronary heart,’ household says

Angel Roman Mendoza Lopez beloved soccer and had desires of sooner or later turning into a police officer.

Angel, 13, died over the weekend after he was hit by a automotive whereas crossing the road on his electrical scooter Friday afternoon, in response to the Pomona Police Division.

The boy was not carrying a helmet on the time, authorities mentioned.

Angel was using his scooter on the sidewalk northbound alongside San Antonio Avenue at about 2:30 p.m. when he tried to cross the road and was struck by a automotive driving south. One other car that was parked alongside the curb of the road was blocking the views of each Angel and the motive force, mentioned Pomona Police Cpl. Neil Woelfel.

“He had simply barely entered into the roadway,” Woelfel mentioned.

Angel was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital and was later transferred to Youngsters’s Hospital of Orange County the place he died, Woelfel mentioned.

The rising reputation of electrical scooters, together with these provided for public use on road corners and sidewalks, have been accompanied by a rise in studies of accidents, prompting lawsuits and calls to manage the two-wheeled automobiles. In August, a 9-year-old boy was killed and his older brother injured once they have been hit by a suspected drunk driver in Koreatown whereas using electrical scooters. Final yr, Lauren Turner, a 19-year-old Cal State Fullerton girls’s soccer participant, died almost six weeks after she and a teammate have been hit by a field truck whereas using electrical scooters on a highway close to campus.

Angel’s household instructed ABC7 that Angel was heading to a buddy’s home when he was struck by the automotive.

“He was a very good child; a golden coronary heart,” Angel’s cousin, Karen Torres, instructed ABC7. “The final name that my aunt and him had was, ‘Mommy, I acquired dwelling from my subject journey.’ And he instructed her, ‘I like you.’”

The driving force concerned within the crash remained on the scene and cooperated with investigators, Woelfel mentioned.

Torres began a GoFundMe to assist her aunt and uncle cowl funeral bills for Angel. Greater than 200 folks had donated greater than $14,000 as of Tuesday morning.

“Our total household is reeling from this profound and sudden loss, and we’re struggling to return to phrases with a future with out his vivid spirit amongst us,” Torres wrote on the fundraiser.

“We maintain onto the unwavering perception that Angel is now at peace in heaven, and we discover solace in realizing that we are going to be reunited with him sooner or later,” she wrote.