Jaheed Lopez was simply trying to help. When a fallen tree blocked traffic along the Hummingbird Highway, the twenty-five-year-old stopped to clear branches from the road. But moments after the work ended, a semi-truck plowed into the area, killing the young man whose final act reflected the generosity his loved ones knew so well. Tonight, his family and friends are mourning a life filled with ambition, kindness and promise. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Daring, ambitious and hardworking. That is how family and friends remember twenty-five-year-old Jaheed Lopez, whose life ended in a freak accident along the Hummingbird Highway on Wednesday afternoon. In his final hour, Lopez was doing what loved ones say came naturally to him: helping others. He stopped to clear fallen branches from the highway, never imagining that the act of kindness would end in tragedy. His employer, Eraine Escalante, was there and witnessed his final moments.
On the Phone: Eraine Escalante, Employer of Deceased
“We were just there doing a good deed, clearing with all the other person that died. He was also doing the same thing. They were heading towards Armenia and they just saw there was a need to get this out of the way and they brought saws and everyone was just assisting to clean out the highway. And we had just finished clearing and I jumped in my truck and it was time to go and I looked in my rear view mirror to see if the other guy that was with us was coming. And I just see him waving down and running and this semi was not stopping. It just pushed one vehicle on the right on the next one on the left.”
The force of the impact knocked Escalante unconscious. When he came to moments later, he observed Jaheed’s lifeless body trapped under the truck. Escalante also noticed that a second person was trapped under the load of sand that the truck was carrying.
On the Phone: Eraine Escalante
“So he was fully covered and we managed to clear his head. While we were doing that we didn’t have shovels and stuff. And my property was not far, right around the corner. So I called another one of the guys and he brought some shovel and we ended up clearing. By that time a lot more people came to assist.”
Two lives were lost that afternoon, all because they made the compassionate decision to stop and help clear branches from the highway. In the chaotic moments that followed the collision, Escalante made the heartbreaking call to Lopez’s mother, Marilyn Trapp, to tell her that her son was gone.
On the Phone: Marilyn Trapp, Mother of Deceased
“He asked me what I am doing. I told him I am right here sitting down. He told me there was an accident. So he said there was an accident but I don’t know how to state it, calmly I sat down there and listened to what he was saying and he said Jaheed wont make it and then he started to tell me what was happening that they were coming form the farm and a tree fell in the road and they were rendering aid along with some people there and a semi truck came from behind and that is all he told me about a semi truck coming from behind and I started to put one together. That truck ran into them and I try to put it together and I explained it to him and I said it like I was there. I said I watch a lot of movies, especially those final destinations and that is what was playing in my head.”
Tributes to Lopez continue to pour in online, with loved ones remembering his lifelong passion for football. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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