'These people have families': Weekend crash victims include beloved grandmother, young boy
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Families held candlelight vigils on both the north and south sides Monday night after their loved ones were killed in car crashes over the weekend.
Candles and roses sat just a few feet from a pile of wreckage at the corner of S. 5th St. and W. Lapham Blvd.
Milwaukee Police said a 17-year-old male was speeding up the off-ramp from I-43/94 around 11:30 p.m. Sunday and blew a red light. The teen's SUV hit a minivan carrying 54-year-old Genoveva Aguilar and her husband, Manuel Galvan.
Aguilar was in the passenger seat when the SUV crashed into that side of the van. Aguilar died at the scene. Her daughter, Daniela Galvan, said her parents were coming home from a Halloween party and were just one block away from their home when the crash happened.
"Halloween is her favorite holiday, and she just wanted to go out, have some fun," Daniela Galvan said. "She got dressed up. She did her makeup; she even showed me. I was like, 'You look beautiful,' because she did, and then I find out what happened."
According to an MPD release, the 17-year-old driver initially ran from the scene, but he later turned himself in.
Daniela Galvan said her mother emigrated from Mexico when she was about 20 years old. Her father worked on farms while Aguilar was a stay-at-home mom before picking up cleaning jobs as money got tight.
"People loved her, and she was always so generous," Daniela Galvan said. "And always saw the good in people, and I just don't understand how this could happen to such a good person."
Genoveva Aguilar died when a driver ran a red light and hit the van in which she was riding. Aguilar was with her husband, Manuel Galvan, who suffered serious injuries.
Brian Galvan said his father was still in the hospital Monday, having undergone surgery after suffering a broken pelvis and ruptured spleen.
"He's expected to recover, but we don't know how well he's gonna recover," Brian Galvan said.
About two hours earlier on Sunday night, around 9:10 p.m., records from police and the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's office state a driver sideswiped a minivan near N. 35th St. and W. Park Hill Ave.
The van went into a gas station at the corner, and police said when the van pulled out of the lot, it hit a car being driven by 27-year-old Vivek Palyal.
The force of the crash caused the van to overturn and hit a pole and sent Palyal's car into a building.
Palyal died at the scene. One passenger in the car and three passengers in the van were treated for what police called 'non-fatal' injuries. The driver of the van, a 57-year-old man, was arrested on a charge of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle.
On the city's northwest side Monday, family and friends cried and released balloons as they remembered 11-year-old Ja'Mario Johnson, Jr.
Police said the boy was riding in a car driven by a 30-year-old woman around 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The car was on N. 76th St. when the driver lost control and hit a tree on W. Bobolink Pl. at high speed.
Johnson died at the scene while a four-year-old child was injured.
Nicole Quezaire (right) embraces a distraught loved one during a vigil for her godson, 11-year-old Ja'Mario Johnson, Jr., who died in a single-car crash Saturday.
Nicole Quezaire said she was still struggling to process the loss of her godson, who was affectionately called 'Junior.'
"Emotionally, I'm kind of numb," she said. "It really hasn't hit home that he's not here anymore."
During the vigil, Rev. David Sinclair from Jeremiah Missionary Baptist Church called for community to uplift the family.
Quezaire then told the group Johnson was always the life of the party. She said, even from a young age, the boy was all about family.
"I think he was probably five-years-old, and he was in the bed, laying down on his phone, talking about, 'I'm gonna be a dad when I get older. I'm gonna be a dad, and I'm gonna take the garbage out,'" Quezaire recalled.
Quezaire said the family had been planning to take Johnson to Wisconsin Dells next month to celebrate his 12th birthday.
A GoFundMe page set up by Johnson's family stated the driver was the boy's mother, and she had a seizure before the crash.
MPD said Monday officers arrested the driver on suspicion of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle and driving after license revocation.
A spokesperson for the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office did not respond to questions Monday about whether prosecutors intended to criminally charge the driver.
Brian Galvan said he wanted drivers across the city to be more mindful, and to remember they were sharing the road with other people.
"These people have families and kids," he said. "You know, just stop driving recklessly. It's not worth it."