A Puerto Rican dad who moved to New York in hopes of beating drug addiction died a month after being struck by an SUV driver while lying in a Bronx roadway.
Now the heartbroken family of Angel Vega Santiago, 34, is donating his organs in the hopes of redeeming his tragic life.
“If somebody else can live through him it would be great,” his sister Beverly Gonzalez told the Daily News by phone from Puerto Rico. “He was a good person even though he struggled,”
Santiago was struck by a 48-year-old woman pulling her 2004 Toyota Sienna out of a parking lot on Weiher Court near Third Ave. in the South Bronx about 12:35 a.m. July 6.
Cops told the victim’s family Santiago had fallen asleep behind the vehicle which struck him when the driver reversed.
The driver did not remain at the scene but was later tracked down by cops. No charges have been filed against her as cops continue to investigate the crash.
Santiago was under the influence of cocaine and anti-psychotic drugs at the time of the incident, the city Medical Examiner told the family.
“He was going through mental health issues,” Gonzalez shared, adding that doctors also revealed to them Santiago had a history of attempting suicide.
Gonzalez described her brother as a man who had struggled with drug addiction for years, a battle that began after he was shot in Puerto Rico about a decade ago. The shooting left Santiago with deep emotional scars that he tried to numb with drugs, his family says.
Despite multiple stints in rehabilitation he was never able to overcome his addiction.
Santiago moved to New York in 2019, hoping to start fresh after being helped by a rehabilitation program that found him a job in the city.
“He didn’t want to go back to drugs so he left Puerto Rico,” Gonzalez said. “He went through rehab five or six times but it didn’t help.”
Santiago lived a transient life in New York, frequently moving between shelters. His family in Puerto Rico lost touch with him over time, only hearing from him sporadically.
Gonzalez recalled how her brother used to call their other siblings, often asking for money, but they eventually stopped helping him, hoping it would push him toward self-sufficiency.
After Santiago was struck, medics rushed him to Lincoln Hospital with severe cervical cord damage.
The family learned Santiago was hospitalized when NYPD cops called them. Police had struggled to locate his next of kin.
“My mom is sick and she got a call from someone saying they needed to tell her something about Angel but couldn’t say what,” Gonzalez recounted. “It was really upsetting.”
Despite their estrangement, Santiago’s family rushed to his side when they learned of the crash.
On August 8, just over a month after he was struck, they agreed to allow him to be unplugged from life support after doctors told them his chances of survival were slim. Santiago, who never regained consciousness after being struck, died half an hour later.
Santiago leaves behind five siblings, his mother, and three children from a previous relationship. His eldest child is an 11-year-old girl.
The family plans cremate Santiago’s body and hold a service in Puerto Rico and has created a GoFundMe to help with expenses.
“Now, we’re just hoping to give Angel a proper farewell,” Gonzalez said.
With Thomas Tracy
Originally Published:
