5-Year-Old Died in RTA on His Birthday, Along with Two Family Members

On Friday night, tragedy struck the Tush family of Aguacate Village, while they were on the Southern Highway returning home from a night of celebrating a child’s birthday. Twelve family members left the village that evening inside a Toyota pickup truck and made their way to Punta Gorda Town for dinner to celebrate Michael Tush’s fifth birthday. On their way back, the pickup truck driven by fifty-one-year-old Jose Tush collided into a Ford F- 350. Forty-Three-Year-Old Emilio Lizama was driving that vehicle. Upon impact, the passengers of the Toyota were violently flung from the pickup. At the time there were seven minors, including one teenager and four adults, inside. Unfortunately, three people succumbed to injuries sustained from the collision. They are fifty-one-year-old Jose Tush, his daughter seventeen-year-old Renita Tush and five-year-old Michael Tush whose birthday the family was celebrating. We spoke with one family member over the phone about the tragedy.

 

On the Phone: Primo Tush, Relative of Deceased

“They were heading from Punta Gorda, heading to Aguacate Village and when they were between Elridgeville and Jacintoville they encountered someone on a bicycle and after passing that person on the bicycle they encountered a vehicle coming in the opposite direction with no light and then all of a sudden the driver turned on his light and flashed it directly in front of my brother which caused brief loss of his vision and that led to him losing control of the vehicle. They live in Aguacate Village, but it was the child that died birthday. It was his birthday so they decided that as a family they would head into town for dinner and that is when this happened. So far there are still two in the hospital, one is in Punta Gorda Hospital, and one is in K.H.M.H. in a very critical condition.”

 

Reporter

“How old is that at K.H.M.H.?”

 

On the Phone: Primo Tush

“The one at K.H.M.H. is six years old. When I got the message, I was very heartbroken. I was not expecting it because the last time I spoke with my brother was like two days ago. He asked me to come home, please come home and that is what ran through my mind. He asks me to come home and it is very heartbreaking. Of course we want justice for my brother and the minor and teenager that passed away. We need good investigation to get to the bottom of this. Losing three family members is not something easy. It is very hard and my sister-in-law is still in shock right now and we are trying to come together to come together and support each other. So, we are asking the relevant authority to look into this matter seriously and we are asking them to please assist us in speeding up the postmortem examination so that we can lay my brother and nephew and niece to rest in peace.”

 

Anyone wishing to assist the Tush family with mounting medical expenses can contact them at six, two, nine, eight, six, three, two.