The mother of 15-year-old Carlos Ramirez has a message for the strangers who rushed to her son’s side as he lay injured on the ground earlier this month: Thank you.
Ramirez had been sitting on a bench, waiting to take a bus home on the afternoon of June 11, when an unpredictable chain-reaction crash put him in harm’s way.
Police say that when a speeding driver ran a red light, another car hit his vehicle, sending it careening over the curbline and into the bench where Ramirez was waiting.
Bystanders who saw the crash hurried to aid Ramirez, holding his hand and providing words of comfort before he was rushed to a hospital, Ramirez’s mom, Monica Gonzalez, said.
“I’m just incredibly appreciative of every single person in that area that tried to help my son,” Gonzalez said. “I could never thank them enough.”
Now, Ramirez’s family and classmates from Lakewood High School are finding ways to honor the memory of their loved one and are waiting to hear what consequences the driver may face.
At the crash site on Carson Street near Palo Verde Avenue, they placed candles, flowers and signs, including one that read “a speeder killed him.”
Police say the 20-year-old driver who was behind the wheel of the speeding car was also seriously injured in the rollover crash and rushed to a local trauma center that day.
As of Monday afternoon, the driver “remains out of custody until the investigation is completed,” said LBPD spokesperson Laurie Barajas.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe organized to cover funeral expenses has collected over $52,000 for Ramirez’s family.
One donor wrote: “My son turns 15 today. There are no words for what your family must be going through and my heart breaks for you.”
Ramirez was named after his father, Manuel, but chose to go by his grandfather’s name — also his middle name — Carlos, his mom said.
He was the first grandson in the family and the first boy born among Gonzalez and her three sisters, Gonzalez said.
Ramirez had his grandfather’s curly hair, but towered over him and the other men in the family, even at just 15 years old, according to his mom. His two younger siblings often climbed on him like a playground in the living room.
One of his aunts was scheduled to fly in from Texas on the day of the crash. The family had planned to go to Knott’s Soak City for Ramirez’s 16th birthday this Sunday.
Tahlia B., who had known Ramirez since middle school, remembered attending a pool party with Ramirez last summer that included a “team vs. team water blasting game.”
She had also gone to the mall with Ramirez to get matching bracelets, Tahlia said.
Ramirez was “one of those rare friends who would always stand up for you, no matter what,” said Jamie Mittwer, another friend.
She met Ramirez about two years ago in Lakewood High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program, Mittwer said.
At Tuesday’s Lakewood City Council meeting, Ramirez’s Scout Troop will hold a moment of silence for him before reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mittwer and Ramirez had grown close over shared interests, including anime and video games, she said. Every Saturday, they gathered with a group of friends to play Dungeons and Dragons.
“Losing him has hit our group hard. It’s the kind of pain that doesn’t just go away, and honestly, we’re all feeling it in different ways,” Mittwer said. “His passing was such a shock, and it still doesn’t feel real.”
Ramirez’s friends want “justice, not just for closure, but to honor who he was,” Mittwer said.
They are brainstorming “something meaningful” to honor Ramirez, Mittwer said. One idea was to get his name carved into the new bus bench.
“He deserves to be remembered,” she said. “And we’re going to make sure he is.”