Mother was on the phone with a passenger when her teenage son died in an accident

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – Nearly two months after her 17-year-old son was killed in a car crash, Angela Maria Lara is looking for answers – and justice.

“We want people to know that Alex was a victim,” said Lara, translated from Spanish by family members. “He trusted that someone would bring him home and in the end he took his own life.”

Lara was on the phone with 15-year-old Lesley Chavez, a passenger in the car, when on July 20, Alexander Valenzuela-Lara, also a passenger, was killed in a high-speed accident and Lesley was seriously injured.

Lara and her family are frustrated that no charges were brought against the driver.

Lt. Rene Gonzalez, spokesman for the Michigan State Police, said the Washtenaw County District Attorney's Office is reviewing the case. MLive/The Ann Arbor News is not naming the driver because he has not yet been charged.

On the evening of the accident, Lesley and Valenzuela-Lara – who were in a relationship – had called the 17-year-old's sister, Ashley Valenzuela-Lara, and asked her to pick her up. Ashley and her mother were just getting into the car when Lesley called back and said Alex's hairdresser would drive her home.

Alex and his hairdresser had never dated or dated before, Ashley said. When the driver dropped Alex and Lesley off in front of the 17-year-old's house, Ashley saw the lights inside the car turn on.

“It just kind of burned out out of nowhere,” Ashley said. “…It happened so fast.”

Then a police officer's vehicle “flew by,” Ashley said. Although the car had no flashing lights or sirens, Ashley saw that it was reflective.

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Gonzalez had previously confirmed that the driver fled after a Pittsfield Township police officer initiated a traffic stop.

Ashley called Lesley again before passing the phone to her mother. Lara told Lesley to have the driver stop somewhere and they would pick her up.

Then she heard a scream and the connection was interrupted, she says.

“As long as (Alex) got out of the car, I didn't care where (the driver) was,” Ashley said.

A few minutes later, Lara received a notification from a tracking app that her son had been in an accident. She and her daughter rushed to the scene, she said.

“After that, we just didn’t know anything anymore,” Ashley said.

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A similarity between Alex and the driver's name caused confusion at the accident scene and in the hospital, according to Lara. Hospital staff initially told her her son was alive before police told them he had died at the scene.

It has also confused community members who know the driver's name, Lara said. Some people thought her son was driving, she said. Speculation from the community has been difficult, she added.

“They just don’t know how it all happened,” Ashley said.

The 18-year-old driver eventually crashed into a fire hydrant and nine parked vehicles at Fischer Honda, 15 E. Michigan Ave., in Ypsilanti, Gonzalez said. The car flipped over and Lesley and Alex were ejected.

Lesley is still in the hospital, his older brother Erick Chavez confirmed on Thursday, September 12.

“We are just happy that she is slowly recovering, but also happy that she is still alive and with us,” Chavez said in a message.

A GoFundMe campaign raised nearly $12,000 for Lesley's medical expenses.

“Alex had a future,” Lara said. “Alex wanted to make something of his life and (the driver) took that away from him.”

He wanted to be a Marine and was repairing a motorcycle, his mother said. Both her extended family and Chavez's family gave him a lot of support, she added.

Lara hopes law enforcement will bring the driver to justice, she said.

“Our lives will never be the same again,” she said.

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