The crash killed 49-year-old Felipe Bentancur; his niece Destiny Uvalle, 25; two grandchildren, 4-year-old Kaisyn Bentancur and 14-year-old Brailyn Cantu; and injured two others. The tragedy spurred fundraisers and benefits to help the family.
Coral Casias, a relative, has raised more than $22,000 on GoFundMe as of Wednesday afternoon, to help pay for funeral expenses and medical bills for the two who are still in the hospital. It’s the least she can do, she said, for a family who is loved by many in Rosenberg.
“This family means a lot to Rosenberg,” Casias said through tears. “You can walk around and ask anyone and they’ll say they know someone in the Bentancur family. They’ll tell you they would give the shirts off their backs.
“They’re good-hearted people.”
A Rosenberg tattoo shop and a hair salon are raffling off body art and hairdos. Residents organized a cookout for Saturday, with the money made from the plates of chicken, sausage, rice and beans to be donated to the family. A relative is raffling tickets on Facebook to the upcoming Bad Bunny concert on Sept. 2 at Minute Maid Park.
Krystle Perez, a longtime family friend, is selling brisket sandwiches Sunday at a nearby car window shop.
“All the families are coming together as one,” Perez said. “People who haven’t talked to people in a long time are talking. … It shows … the impact we can make.”
After a recent practice, Kaisyn’s youth flag football team paid tribute to the 4-year-old boy by releasing star-shaped balloons in the team’s colors. One of the team’s supporters held up a tiny jersey with Kaisyn’s No. 33 on the back.
“This little boy was the smallest on the team but his spirit, his heart, his determination, his fearlessness reminded me of King David,” the supporter wrote, invoking the biblical figure who slayed the giant Goliath.
Brailyn was set to start his freshman year of high school, KHOU 11 reported, and the family was in Galveston for a mini vacation before classes began this month.
The four died after Miguel Espinoza, a 45-year-old also from Rosenberg, drove while intoxicated and caused the crash as he traveled eastbound on Avenue R, police said. Espinoza failed to stop at 33rd Street and hit the golf cart and a black pickup truck, according to Galveston police.
He suffered minor injuries and is being held at the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $400,000 bail on four counts of intoxication manslaughter.
The tragedy has already sparked change in Galveston, with Mayor Craig Brown saying the deadly weekend crash is one of many recent incidents that have involved golf carts, a popular way of getting around the island.
“This particular accident is horrendous,” Brown previously said. “We need to relook at this because they’re increasing in the streets. I’m not sure what we can do.”
jhair.romero@chron.com
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
