MANTECA — A Manteca woman is still trying to make sense of what happened to her son after he was killed in a crash Sept. 10.
Eduardo “Eddie” Aguilar Mendoza fell asleep behind the wheel of his car and died on impact when his vehicle crashed into a pole.
“It’s been very, very hard for me,” said Eddie’s mother, Maribel Mendoza. “I can’t understand it… I can’t accept it.”
Mendoza said the last time she saw her son was weeks before his accident, when he played soccer in Pasadena. She hugged him, told him she loved him and then they parted ways.
When they weren’t together, Mendoza said she would text her son, “I love you, Mijo,” every morning and every night.
The 18-year-old was a standout soccer player at Sierra High School and was on a partial scholarship at Ottawa University in Arizona.
Eddie’s organs were donated to five people, including a 9-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser.
