Family, classmates remember KCK teen killed in crash as a ‘go-getter,’ ‘always smiling’
A teenage boy from Kansas City, Kan., who died earlier this week is being remembered for his love of baseball, his friendship and having a “contagious smile” around his family and classmates.
Dozens gathered on 40th Street near Wyandotte Avenue Friday night where 14-year-old Angelo Gage DePeralta was badly injured in a crash the day before.
DePeralta was one of the four teens inside an SUV Thursday morning that skidded into a parked dump truck, hit a guardrail and rolled over. Police said DePeralta was taken to a hospital where he later died.
Friends and relatives took turns lighting candles next to the guardrail where framed photos of the smiling boy were placed. One photo showed DePeralta in a baseball uniform.
DePeralta’s mother, Lorena Gonzalez, said her son had taken a break from the sport earlier this year, but told his mother he wanted to start playing again.
“My go-getter, the energetic one,” Gonzalez described DePeralta.
He “wanted to learn every position on the baseball field,” she said.
Elena Pinon, his cousin, said the teen played right field and was getting into pitching.
“He was a little goofball, just like any other teenage boy. He loved baseball, hanging out with his friends. He had a beautiful smile,” said Pinon.
The last time Gonzalez saw her son, it was Thursday morning.
Gonzalez said she had given her son some money, and later that morning, he left J.C. Harmon High School with three others to get breakfast at IHOP.
Gonzalez said one of her son’s friends was behind the wheel of the SUV that crashed on their way back to school.
Kansas City, Kan., police earlier told local media DePeralta, was thrown from the SUV due to the collision.
“I’m not blaming anyone. It was a situation that happened, and there’s no one to be blamed for it,” Gonzalez said about the crash. “I’ve done this when I was younger where we just had a skip day and just went to go get breakfast. But nobody in a million years thought this was going to happen.”
At school that day, one of DePeralta’s close friends, Jean Emmanuel Nyemah, said he heard his friend had been killed in the collision. He didn’t believe it at first, he said.
Nyemah, a freshman at the high school like DePeralta, said he’d known DePeralta since kindergarten. To DePeralta, Nyemah was also known as “Manny,” a nickname he’d given his friend in grade school.
The two had biology and social studies classes together at the high school. Some of their favorite activities were going to Sky Zone and the movies, he said. Nyemah plays soccer, but said he’d sometimes go see his friend play baseball.
“I remember one time I went to his game and he made a good catch to win the game . . . I knew he’d come to my games, too,” Nyemah said.
“He never really wanted trouble. He made everybody laugh,” Nyemah added about his friend. “He was always smiling, and he was the real deal when it came to baseball.”
A GoFundMe page was created after the fatal crash Thursday to help the family cover funeral expenses. As of Friday, the online fundraising page had raised $1,900.
During Friday night’s vigil, Gonzalez thanked the crowd and said she’s appreciative of the help from family and friends.
Gonzalez misses “everything” about her teenage son. “Just waking up to him, just him being there, and now I’m not going to have him no more,” the mother of four said through tears.
“It’s going to be different, my life is going to change. It already has. I don’t even know how to understand or to get what’s next.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 10:23 PM.
