MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — What was supposed to be a joyful holiday season has turned into heartbreak for the family of a 12-year-old Miami Gardens boy who died after being struck by a vehicle while walking home from school a week before Christmas.
Carl Robinson IV, a sixth grader at Carol City Middle School, was hit Friday while crossing Northwest 37th Avenue and 194th Street, according to his mother and stepmother. They said a driver struck the child while attempting to make a turn.
Kenyatta Trigo, Robinson’s mother, said she had been planning holiday activities with her son when she received the devastating call.
“I’m planning Christmas, planning to go get our nails done, planning to buy gifts and just have a wonderful Christmas. And to get this news that he’s not here with us,” said Trigo. “It’s so hard to wake up this morning and not have him.”
She said she learned of her son’s death through a call filled with emotion.
“All I could hear was her daughter’s voice, just saddened, you know, to even call me to tell me that my son is gone,” she said.
According to the family, both Robinson and the driver were unable to avoid the collision.
“She didn’t see him, and he didn’t see her,” Trigo said. “By the time it happened, there was no way for either one of them to move out of the way or for her to stop. So it’s very tragic.”
Paramedics airlifted Robinson to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, where doctors attempted to save him. He died on Tuesday, two days before Christmas.
Trigo said her son suffered extensive injuries, including severe trauma to the left side of his body and catastrophic brain damage. Doctors later determined there was no brain activity.
Instead of celebrating the holiday together, the family is now preparing to lay the 12-year-old to rest. Trigo said Robinson’s organs will be donated to help other children in need.
“He was young and healthy,” she said. “His heart is beating strong. So that heart is going to someone and eventually I will meet that person. And I hear him, hold him again. And fell that heartbeat beating. So I just, I try to look at that positivity.”
Trigo said she hopes her son’s legacy will help spare other families from experiencing similar pain and give life to children in need.
Family members have set up a GoFundMe page to help with final expenses.
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