Family Mourns Boy So Eager for School, So Tragically Killed

SANTA ANA —  On another day, 5-year-old Miguel (Mickey) Guzman might have been drawing pictures of his beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or studying the alphabet to get ready for kindergarten.

But Friday, his family was mourning the death of the “happy, playful child” who had been so eager for school to start that he had gone shopping for supplies and new clothes just last week.

Mickey died at 12:30 a.m. Friday after being hit by a truck in an alley near his home the previous evening. Police said the youngster had apparently dashed after an errant ball when he was struck.

Family members said Mickey, his 7-year-old brother, Heriberto, and other children were playing kick ball Thursday evening in the courtyard at their apartment complex at 818 S. Shelton St. when tragedy struck.

Police said the driver of the truck was not cited.

The family gathered Friday at Mickey’s grandmother’s house to remember the boy, and to mourn his loss.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” said Mickey’s mother, Anna Guzman, 29, looking into the back yard, where her nephews and nieces were laughing as they chased each other. “I can’t believe he’s not out there playing with them.”

Guzman said the truck driver should have been aware that children play in the area.

“Kids are always playing there,” she said. “As a driver, he should’ve been more careful.”

But Police Lt. Chuck Magdalena said witnesses told investigators that the driver was going “very slow, and they didn’t think he could avoid the collision.”

Mickey’s parents said they have accepted the tragedy but cannot help but think of their child, who was so eager to live and learn.

“Look,” Guzman said. She pointed to a well-used red notebook on which Miguel was printed twice in awkward letters.

“He taught himself the alphabet,” she said, “because he was always saying, ‘I’m big now because my legs are growing, and I’m ready for school.’ ”

The notebook contains the boy’s likenesses of all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters.

“He liked to draw and wanted to become an artist,” Guzman said, crying, squeezing her husband’s hand.

“We can’t do anything else now,” said Angel Guzman, 32. “He’s gone. He was a beautiful boy and we love him, but he’s gone.”

Times staff writer Eric Lichtblau contributed to this report.