DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Hugo Alamos recalled the moment an out-of-control car crashed into a toll booth before striking and injuring his 5-year-old son Sunday on a Volusia County beach.
“I just heard, ‘Pow!’ Like a bomb. (I) saw the car racing. The other kids moved, but David did not,” Alamos told News 6 from the hospital where his son is being treated and was in stable condition. “My smallest kid, he just stayed there. He didn’t move. (The car) just went straight to him.”
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Alamos added they had been at the beach for 20 minutes when the car came barreling onto Daytona Beach.
Volusia County Beach Safety said the crash occurred around 5 p.m. as the driver, apparently suffering from some sort of medical episode, was approaching from Daytona International Speedway.
The car drove through a toll booth and onto the sand before going into the ocean, injuring the people in the vehicle and the 5-year-old beachgoer.
“It may have been a seizure. We just don’t know at this time. When he came over the bridge, he went through the beach access ramp, hitting the gate and the toll booth. Fortunately, no one was in the toll booth at the time,” Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue Deputy Chief Tamra Malphurs said.
While the other victims were taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons, Alamos said his son, David, sustained major cuts down his arm and chest.
“I saw him coming up again (after the crash), but he was crying and he had a big cut (on) his chest,” Alamos told News 6. “It was really bad. There was blood coming out. I saw a policeman in the red truck, and I told him, ‘Help me, please, my son is hurt.’”
David has since received stitches for his injuries, according to his father. Alamos said they plan to head home to Nashville, Tennessee, once his son is discharged from the hospital.
“We’re very fortunate that no one else was injured. That is a very busy beach access ramp. It’s usually in that time of day we usually have a lot of people in that area,” Malphurs said.
The driver was cited for careless driving, officials said.
An investigation is ongoing.
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