POLK COUNTY, Fla. — An outgoing child who loved cars, dreamed of becoming a firefighter, and was kind to everyone he encountered.
A fourth grader who loved riding his bike, playing a computer game with his friends, and using his cell phone to group message-friendly pleasantries to his parents, seven siblings, and cousins.
That’s how family members remember Andres Martinez, the 9-year-old who deputies say was biking to a nearby friend’s house Friday around 4:45 p.m. when he was hit and killed along Hutchins Road in Fort Meade by a driver in a red truck who did not stop.
Family members say the fourth-grader died in his mother’s arms without suffering.
“It just hurt,” said Juan Martinez, one of Andres’ brothers. “It just broke us, man. But, like my dad says, you know, he’s gone. Everything happens for a reason, and hopefully, he’s in a better place watching over us.”
Now, a memorial grows in the shade of a tent near the crash site, and family members share their memories.
“He was outgoing,” Juan said. “He would always be there. My parents — they’d get home from work, and he would open the door for them. Every time they pulled into the driveway, he’d open the door for them.”
“He was like the party person. He was the — basically a person that gave life to all of us,” added Marisol Martinez, Andres’ older sister.
Marisol also described Andres as an excellent student at Lewis Anna Woodbury Elementary School.
“He loved reading,” she said. “He loved doing math.”
Just hours after the hit and run, deputies arrested and charged Gilbert Almaguer, 45, who they say was behind the wheel of this red truck. Marisol has already forgiven the Bowling Green man.
“I have no hate towards him,” she said. "People make mistakes. People are human beings.”
She finds the strength to forgive her late little brother, who was always happy, friendly, and loving.
“Knowing Andres, he never — he was never hateful towards anybody, so me being me, I’m not going to do the same,” she said.
Family members have started a GoFundMe page to help fund Andres’ funeral. You can find the fundraiser at this link.
