ONLY ON ABC-7: Boy to be honored for saving mom, brother

A second-grade student at Putnam Elementary School in West El Paso is set to be honored today for saving his mother and younger brother after a fiery crash last week.

ABC-7 sat down with Luis Garcia, age 9, and his mother to hear what happened.

Reyna Espindola said her tire blew out as they were driving along I-10 East near Van Horn on Friday. “I lost control of the car, and the car started spinning on the road uncontrollably until it stopped at the other side of the road,” she added, speaking in Spanish.

“We crashed into everything,” Luis said. “The glass got broken, and glass went in my leg. It scratched me really bad.”

Garcia’s wound has scabbed and is healing, but it’s clear that the experience shook him up. He sometimes got quiet, covering his face with his hands, leaving his mother to fill in the gaps of what happened after the car stopped and caught fire.

“I told them, ‘Get out now!'” Espindola said. “I told Luis to unbuckle my youngest son and to get him out safe.” She was depending on her 9-year-old because she couldn’t get out of the car, she said. “There was a tree on the side of my door, so I couldn’t open it. So, I began to kick the door.”

The pressure was building. Luis said he was tugging at his 4-year-old brother’s seat belt, all while little Rafael screamed for help.

“I was crying,” Luis said. When asked what he was thinking about, he responded, “I thought that I was going to die.”

His mom teared up. “It is incredible the way he reacted,” Espindola said. “The fire was more intense on the side where Luis was.

“All he cared about was to get his younger brother to safety.”

The EL Paso I.S.D. is setting up a ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Friday for the Culberson County Judge Carlos Urias, Texas state troopers and other Van Horn officials at Putnam ES to present Luis with a heroism certificate.