Issac Santillan had been celebrating hours earlier on Christmas Eve with cousins and other family members.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A boy celebrating his ninth birthday on Christmas died early this morning in a car wreck, police said Monday.
Issac Santillan, traveling in the back seat of a car with his 5-year-old half sister, died at the scene of the accident here at around 4:40 a.m. ET Monday, said police in Fort Pierce, about 115 miles north of Miami on the Atlantic coast.
“He had many people who loved him very much and had such a great personality,” said his aunt, Cynthia Santillan, who spent time with the boy Christmas Eve. “Issac knew what to say to put a smile on your face (and) was the kindest little boy ever.”
Issac’s half sister, Alani Ruiz, was critically injured in the wreck and flown to a West Palm Beach, Fla., hospital. A woman in the front seat, whose name was not released, is in serious condition at a Fort Pierce hospital.
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Julio Ruiz, Alani’s father and driver of the 2005 Toyota Corolla, is in an area hospital in stable condition. The Toyota he was driving traveled through a stop sign at a “T” intersection, hitting an unoccupied Ford pickup on the other side that was parked on private property, said Ed Cunningham, police spokesman.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash and are considering speed to be a factor, Cunningham said.
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