Quiet and shy, Melvin Balderas, 4, was looking forward to starting preschool Monday.
The Wheeling boy’s dream was cut short Sunday when a Texas woman lost control of her car on Dundee Road and struck Melvin and his parents as they were walking to their apartment. So family members are scrambling to pay for his burial while his parents are in the hospital.
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Melvin was pronounced dead at 3:17 p.m. Sunday in Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, said the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His mother, Blanca, 27, is in critical condition and his father, Ruben, 21, is in fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
“The next morning [Melvin] was supposed to go to preschool,” said Rev. Martin Vaquero, the family’s minister. “He really wanted to go. The mom is in really bad shape.”
The accident occurred at 2:45 p.m. when Joanne Goldstein, 68, of Houston lost control of her 2006 Buick and drove onto the sidewalk in the 100 block of East Dundee Road, police said.
“We’re investigating the mechanics of the car,” said Wheeling Deputy Police Chief John Stone.
Goldstein was cited for improper lane usage and driving off the roadway. No signs of speeding, drugs or alcohol were discovered.
Family and friends mourned their loss and said prayers for the boy’s parents, Vaquero said.
On Sunday, the Balderas family had just finished lunch at Panda Express on Dundee Road, he said. Ruben was scheduled to pick up his father at O’Hare International Airport Sunday night. The family had planned for a short visit, but now his father is keeping watch at the hospital, Vaquero said.
“Our goal is to try to comfort them as much as we can with the Bible and share our love as much as we can,” he said.
Ruben and Blanca Balderas moved to the Chicago area from Oaxaca, Mexico, six years ago, Vaquero said. Ruben is a landscaper and Blanca stayed home.
Many neighbors in the Balderases’ 22-unit yellow brick apartment complex stick to themselves, but their family had a reputation for kindness, said Rocio Vasquez, who has lived next door for three years.
“I’m worried of what’s going to happen with them.”
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