Family Struggles With Loss Of Son, Brother After Fatal I-440 Accident
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 12:00 PM Updated: 11:09 PM
Photo By: Contributed Photos
To watch video online please click here to download the latest version of the Flash plugin.
Email a Friend
RSS
digg it
Printer Friendly
Sphere IT
Save This Page
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A family member of 14-year-old Santiago Tellez spoke out about the terrible accident that killed his brother and two others.
Discuss This Story
Discuss This Story
The night of the accident, 20-year-old Edgar Pascual said he was hanging out with his brother Santiago Tellez and the two others who died. Pascual was in another car at which time, turned off the highway right before the accident.
"I'm feeling bad, I’m feeling bad, yeah, because he was my brother,” Pascual said.
Meanwhile, at East Wake Middle School, the holiday return started with a moment of silence for Santiago. School counselors and teachers held special sessions with grieving students through out the day.
"We've had some kids who are very upset as they were coming to school this morning,” said Principal Brad Shackelford, “especially many of our Hispanic students who were very close to Santiago."
Santiago’s friends at school said he was always happy and was a good friend.
Family members say Tellez, who also went by the nickname "smiley", will be taken to Mexico where he will be buried.
The family of 14-year-old Santiago Pascual Tellez said they want the man who hit the car their son was in to go to jail for a long time. Sunday dozens of people gathered at the Tellez family home; Monday a small gathering of family was mourning their loved one.
The family said the East Wake Middle School student was a good student who came home from school and studied most days.
The fatal accident happened on the eastbound lanes of the I-440 Beltline at 4:30 a.m. Sunday after the driver of a white cargo van apparently drove down the wrong side of the roadway.
The accident closed the eastbound portion of the beltline between Wake Forest Road and Capital Boulevard for several hours.
Police said that the accident also killed two brothers, 26-year-old Guillermo Zintzun Jimenez and Dagoberto Zintzun Jimenez, 21.
Their cousins, Jose Canuto Canuto, 24, and Louis Alberto Canuto, 22, were both transported to the hospital. Louis is home from the hospital recovering from his injuries and Jose remains in the hospital.
The driver of the van, Francisco Javier Martinez, 32, of 1925 Village Squire Circle in Raleigh, was charged with DWI, three counts of felony death by motor vehicle, two counts of felony serious injury by motor vehicle, driving the wrong direction and not having an operator's license.
Family members described the Jimenez brothers as tranquil, hard workers who never smoked or drank. They were the type to go to work and come straight home, family said.
"[Martinez] is very much at fault," said the boys' mother. "We'll never get our sons back, but I hope justice is served."
They were great friends to everybody "as you can see people are here to remember them," they said. The family said the brothers were coming home from a get together.
They are asking for donations. To help, contact German Zintun or Estella Jimenez address 7101 Eversfield Raleigh, NC 27615 or by phone (919) 872-6134.
