Angel Roman Mendoza Lopez loved soccer and had dreams of one day becoming a police officer.
Angel, 13, died over the weekend after he was hit by a car while crossing the street on his electric scooter Friday afternoon, according to the Pomona Police Department.
The boy was not wearing a helmet at the time, authorities said.
Angel was riding his scooter on the sidewalk northbound along San Antonio Avenue at about 2:30 p.m. when he attempted to cross the street and was struck by a car driving south. Another vehicle that was parked along the curb of the street was blocking the views of both Angel and the driver, said Pomona Police Cpl. Neil Woelfel.
“He had just barely entered into the roadway,” Woelfel said.
Angel was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital and was later transferred to Children’s Hospital of Orange County where he died, Woelfel said.
The growing popularity of electric scooters, including those offered for public use on street corners and sidewalks, have been accompanied by an increase in reports of accidents, prompting lawsuits and calls to regulate the two-wheeled vehicles. In August, a 9-year-old boy was killed and his older brother injured when they were hit by a suspected drunk driver in Koreatown while riding electric scooters. Last year, Lauren Turner, a 19-year-old Cal State Fullerton women’s soccer player, died nearly six weeks after she and a teammate were hit by a box truck while riding electric scooters on a road near campus.
Angel’s family told ABC7 that Angel was heading to a friend’s house when he was struck by the car.
“He was a good kid; a golden heart,” Angel’s cousin, Karen Torres, told ABC7. “The last call that my aunt and him had was, ‘Mommy, I got home from my field trip.’ And he told her, ‘I love you.’”
The driver involved in the crash remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, Woelfel said.
Torres started a GoFundMe to help her aunt and uncle cover funeral expenses for Angel. More than 200 people had donated more than $14,000 as of Tuesday morning.
“Our entire family is reeling from this profound and sudden loss, and we are struggling to come to terms with a future without his bright spirit among us,” Torres wrote on the fundraiser.
“We hold onto the unwavering belief that Angel is now at peace in heaven, and we find solace in knowing that we will be reunited with him one day,” she wrote.
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