SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One mother is on a mission to save lives this holiday season and is pleading with others not to drink and drive.
“It’s a 100% preventable crime. It’s a 100% preventable death that Alec experienced. He didn’t have to die; all she had to do was stay home,” said Tara Repka Flores, mother of Alec Flores.
At 13 years old, Alec Flores was an aspiring athlete, but he was tragically killed while walking to school back in 2019. A suspected drunk driver hit him and drove away.
“Not only did we lose our son, but we lost our sense of community. You think you should be able to trust the parents at school to be part of your village that help raise your family and help get you through the day, and part of our village killed our son. It’s pretty awful,” said Repka Flores.
Constance Addison was found guilty on all counts including second-degree murder in the death of the 13-year-old. She faces a minimum sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
“No one wants to be the person who kills a 13-year-old, and anytime you get in a vehicle when you’ve had anything to drink, you could be that person. So make a plan and don’t do it. Don’t drive if you’d had anything to drink,” said Repka Flores.
The mother fought for justice for her son but also channeled her grief by creating a foundation in Alec's name. It's called the Alec Flores Youth Sports Scholarship Corporation. The goal is to award young athletes scholarships.
She also works to make sure no other family spends the holidays with that empty seat at the table.
“I’m going to tell you honestly, that there’s days in between meetings at work where I still just lose it for 15 minutes and then you have to pull yourself back together. I mean nobody ever thinks at 13 years old, that that’s the last month that you’re going to get, right? You think you’re going to get to graduate from 8th grade and go to high school and pick your college and meet your spouse and have kids. You think you have all of that in the future, and he was robbed from way too much,” said Repka Flores.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving two out of three people will be impacted by drunk driving in their lifetime.
“It can happen to anyone, and it takes all of us to be 100% responsible to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” said Repka Flores.
MADD launched a new campaign called "To Get There." It's an effort anyone can join by making a pledge to stop drunk driving.
"The pledge is basically that they won’t drive impaired during the holidays, that they’ll be there for someone who is impaired to be the designated driver and that they’ll be a good party host," said Lori Bergenstock, with MADD. "Because I think one of the things we don’t think about is all those things that go into being a good party host and being responsible for how people leave our houses during the holidays."
WATCH ALSO:
