Christmas Eve is the time for families to come together, but one family's plans to unite with family ended in tragedy.
Airman Javier Garcia, a 22-year veteran, was driving his mother young daughter from Riverside to Mexicali Wednesday night to catch a flight. Then, in an instant, a car cut in front of them at Highway 86 in Brawley.
"All I remember was a car cutting across," Garcia told NBC 7 exclusively, "then them [first responders] taking me out with the jaws of life."
Javier's mother, Maria, was also in the car and did not survive.
“ I heard him [first responder] say she doesn't have a heartbeat,” Garcia said. “I think I passed out from that moment.”
Maria Garcia Zuniga had just beaten cancer, the same illness that took the life of her husband in 1995. The family was going to celebrate her cancer feat in Mazatlan for Christmas.
“That was her wish to go back home to see her family,” Garcia said.
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The 22-year Airman and his daughter Delilah were rushed to San Diego area hospitals. They both suffered bleeding of the brain. It’s physical pain only topped by the emotional pain of a mother and grandmother gone too soon.
If you would like to help the Garcia family, here is a link to their official Go Fund Me page.
