HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Hundreds of Highlands Ranch car enthusiasts took part in a memorial car cruise on Sunday for 13-year-old Alex Mackiewicz, a Highlands Ranch seventh-grader killed at an intersection last week.
Alex, a student at Mountain Ridge Middle School, was riding a OneWheel (a single-wheel electric skateboard) just before 7 a.m. Wednesday when a driver struck and killed him as he was crossing the intersection of Venneford Ranch Road and Highlands Ranch Parkway.
"You never think that you're going to be going to school one day, and then that's it," said Daisy Gross, a 14-year-old participating in the cruise.
Daisy's father came up with the idea for the cruise while at dinner. Daisy said she wanted to help memorialize Alex, who left a strong impression on the community.
"You don't have to know someone or like, be best friends with them," said Daisy. "You just have to just come together as a community and just remember them.”
Daisy's father reached out to Ron Latine, the president of Highland's Hot Rods. Together, they created a route, which ended at the home of Alex's family. Participants of the cruise each wrote notes, which were gathered in a box to be presented to Alex's family.
Participants started at the Kaiser Permanente parking lot on 9285 Hepburn Street, at 12:30 p.m.
"We were hoping we could get like 100 cars, but it's a couple of hundred cars I think,” said Latine. “The turnout is just incredible.”
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is still investigating Alex's death. The driver stayed on the scene and is cooperating with the investigation. Speed is not believed to be a factor, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
