[ad_1]
A day later, on Long Island, the cruel symmetry of the tragedy was still too strong for family, friends and officials to understand.
Evelyn Rodriguez, a wisp of a mother who had gone to Washington and spoke privately with President Trump about MS-13, the transnational gang that killed her daughter Kayla Cuevas and a friend, Nisa Mickens, in september 2016. his life in memory of his daughter.
Friday afternoon, almost two years old, she died fighting for her memory.
Rodriguez, 50, was hit by a car in Brentwood, Long Island, at a memorial site for her daughter, police said. Freddy Cuevas, the father of Mrs. Rodriguez and Kayla, had been in conflict with the driver about a shrine she had built.
On Saturday, police did not file a complaint and said an investigation was under way. They definitely excluded any connection between the death of MS-13 and that of Mrs. Rodriguez.
"This goes beyond punishment," said MP Peter T. King, a Republican representing Brentwood who had become close to Ms. Rodriguez. "I can not imagine a more horrible death for a child than being dead to death and being more horribly dead than being crushed by a vehicle."
Barbara Medina, Ms. Rodriguez's closest friend, was not present when Ms. Rodriguez was hit by the car, but said that she spoke with Mr. Cuevas, Ms. Rodriguez's long-time partner, who returned account of what had happened.
"They had set up a sanctuary for Kayla's second birthday," said Ms. Medina. "When they came back, the shrine was gone, the balloon had burst, and Kayla's picture was gone."
Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Cuevas were seen on images Recorded Friday by News 12, a local television channel, faces the driver of a white S.U.V. – apparently about the disassembled shrine – about 90 minutes before the start of the memorial. Police said the driver was tied to an owner on the block.
As seen in the video, Mr. Cuevas waved his arms angrily and started walking in the back of the vehicle while Ms. Rodriguez stayed on the driver's side. It was then, according to Ms. Medina, that the driver accelerated.
"She hit him, spilled her twice," said Ms. Medina. "It was just crazy."
The driver stayed to call 911, the police said.
The Suffolk County Police Department said on Friday that there had been a dispute over the placement of the memorial, but did not want to comment further on the details of the events.
"She meant everything to me," Cuevas said in a brief interview in which he was inconsolable, except to congratulate Ms. Rodriguez for her strength and encouragement.
Arrangements were made for an awakening on Thursday at Brentwood in the same funeral home that buried Kayla.
While Mr. Trump's tributes on Twitter, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and other leaders, were revealed, it was clear that in her life, Ms. Rodriguez united people with her undeniable will. No mother, she says, should go through what she's done.
Ms. Rodriguez grew up in the Bronx and Puerto Rico; she stated that her public position against illegal immigration was against criminals who came to the country and enrolled in schools.
"There was never any hint that she blamed someone for a policy," King said.
Ms. Rodriguez sent her message to Mr. Trump to get more money for schools through gang prevention programs and safety measures. She sued the Brentwood School District for neglecting Kayla's death and arguing with a member of the MS-13 gang that the authorities said they had started at school.
Ms. Rodriguez had attended the state of the Union in January as a guest of the first lady, Melania Trump, with Nisa's parents.
In May, she worked with Mr. King to have Mr. Trump attend a roundtable at Long Island. She helped organize the presence of undocumented family members of four young Latino men who were also killed by MS-13.
"I have never met anyone with more courage and more courage and I have never felt sorry for herself," Mr. King said. "She never said," Why did this happen to me? "She always wanted to protect others."
Mr. King said that he was on his way to the wake when he learned that she was dead. When he arrived, Mr. King said that people were walking down the street without knowing what had happened. As rumors spread, people's faces went out, Mr. King said, "It was almost like:
Last summer, while Mrs. Rodriguez was preparing to meet with President Trump for the first time during a speech to law enforcement on Long Island, she spoke about her activism.
His words read like an epitaph.
"There are days when you feel like you want your world to end, just like your child," Rodriguez said. "Then you realize that you have a new goal: to fight so that the death of your child is not in vain."
Source link
