Teen injured in crash that killed his siblings and parents is improving, family says
A 16-year-old is improving after he was critically injured in a street-racing crash that killed his parents and two siblings in Grand Prairie.
Anthony Rosales was ejected from a Chevrolet Traverse on the evening of Aug. 10 after it turned on South Belt Line Road and collided with a racing red Dodge Charger, according to his family and Grand Prairie police.
His parents, Jessie Rosales Jr. and Lorena Rosales, and his siblings, 13-year-old Stephanie and 6-year-old Angel, were all killed as a result of the crash. Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene and another died at a hospital, according to police.
Anthony was still in critical condition four days after the crash, but has monumentally improved and no longer requires a ventilator to breathe, said Kim Cox, the organizer of the family’s GoFundMe. His older siblings, Natalie and Jessie Rosales III, shared with KTVT that he is now able to walk.
“He still has a long way to go but this is a huge step forward. Thank you for all the prayers,” said Cox in an update posted Aug. 17.
The crash was not the family’s first encounter with street racing, according to KTVT’s report. Natalie and Jessie Rosales’ family members were victims of a street-racing crash years ago near Grand Prairie on Interstate 30, but never thought they would again be in a similar crash, they told KTVT.
“There’s nothing that you can do to bring them back, and it’s a pain that we’re always going to have to live with,” Jessie Rosales III told KTVT.
They described Angel Rosales as a bubbly and bright child and Stephanie Rosales as extremely smart and sweet.
“It’s just crazy that they had so much potential,” Natalie Rosales told KTVT. “He’s going to need us and we are going to need him and we’re going to hold each other closer than ever.”
Police said the driver of the Dodge Charger that hit the family’s SUV was traveling at a high rate of speed while racing another vehicle.
Jaime Mesa, 20, the driver of the red Dodge Charger was arrested on suspicion of four counts of racing on a highway causing death, four counts of manslaughter, one count of racing on a highway causing serious bodily injury, and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The other driver, 22-year-old Anthony Morales, fled the scene, but was arrested after detectives located him on Aug. 11, according to police. He was arrested on suspicion of four counts of racing on a highway causing death and one count of racing on a highway causing serious bodily injury.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 9:46 PM.
