A Santa Familia family is preparing to bury their 11-year-old daughter while their 5-year-old son recovers from broken bones in the hospital. Siblings Keiana and Jahir Cruz were struck by a vehicle yesterday evening while walking home.
It's an incredibly tragic story, about a girl protecting her little brother and losing her life in the process. Courtney Menzies visited the village and has this story.
Luis Cruz, Father of Deceased
"I have four kids and one girl… she was the only one, she was my queen."
Those were the words of a father mourning the loss of his 11-year-old daughter. Little Keiana Cruz and her brother, 5-year-old Jahir, were hit by a vehicle around 4:30 yesterday as they walked on the side of a dirt road in Santa Familia. Their mother left their home earlier that day to go into the town and had sent them to their aunt's for safekeeping.
It was on their way back home that tragedy struck.
Luis Cruz, Father of Deceased
"She gone get groceries and she send the two kids with her sister and then like 1 o'clock she come ack and then she call them for them to come home and they were coming home and the car was coming, speed up and take the two of them."
The vehicle, seen here at the Santa Familia station, somehow veered to the left, going straight towards the children. Keiana shoved her baby brother out of the way and took the full impact of the vehicle, which then dragged her away.
And on that same dirt road, her little slippers and Jahir's mask mark the spot where she was hit. A path of dirt shows where her family found her lying in the middle of the road, already dead.
Her father could barely hold back the tears as he remembered his little girl.
Luis Cruz, Father of Deceased
"She was a pretty girl, she was growing pretty, smart, she likes to do homework, she likes to study, she likes to do everything in the kitchen."
Courtney Menzies:
"She likes helping out her mom?"
Luis Cruz, Father of Deceased
"Yes, she was learning to do everything in the kitchen… to cook, do this, do that. She used to tell me that she wants to be a doctor or a nurse."
And while Keiana did not make it, Jair is currently recovering from a broken jaw and a broken leg at the KHMH.
And perhaps he was able to get medical attention in time since a family friend saw the accident and rushed to assist him.
Lucellie Garcia, Eyewitness
"Yesterday we were heading home, we were walking and talking when the pickup was going right by the police station when at the front like 60 feet from Keiana Cruz and Jahir Cruz, they were heading to their house, when I saw that the pickup, well the driver lose control and he go towards- they were walking and crash them. So when I see them I start run and then I saw Jair, he was to his right he was... [crying] he was still alive and then I pick up him and I put him right here to make him throw all of the blood because he was drowning in his blood. So I started to scream, asking for help and nobody... and then one old man come."
"In the meanwhile, Keiana Cruz, she was dead already."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you saw the vehicle drag her?"
Lucellie Garcia, Eyewitness
"Yes it drag her like 42 feet by where she was walking."
Courtney Menzies:
"Was the vehicle speeding?"
Lucellie Garcia, Eyewitness
"Well, no exactly, but then the thing is I think something happened to him, I don't know, but when I see it was already crash."
The white pickup truck went continued driving but rammed into a lamppost near the scene. The driver has since been detained by police.
The driver of the pickup truck, Saudy Joseph Landero, has since been charged. He was slapped with charges of manslaughter by negligence, driving without due care and attention, and death by careless conduct. According to police, he refused to give a urine sample and was charged for that as well.
