EVERETT, Wash. — A 13-year-old who died a year ago was remembered by a large crowd filled with his family and friends at the site where a tragic e-bike accident took place.
“Fly high, Emi,” the group said in unison as they released dozens of white balloons in Emiliano, or ‘Emi’ as he was known, into the afternoon sky.
The Explorer Middle School student was riding his e-bike home last year on May 2nd, when he took a shortcut, but didn’t see a braided cable strung from a city bollard. He died from his injuries three days later May 5, 2025.
His mom spoke in Spanish to the many students who showed up, and his cousin, Kristel Serna translated: “Today is going to be an amazing day because we are going to gift him a balloon for Emiliano up in heaven.”
His father telling us off-camera that the school will graduate Emi posthumously and create an annual award for students who exemplify his son’s spirit. “He was very loved by everyone,” Emi’s dad said to the crowd. “Especially you, who are here.”
His cousin says Emi will live on in others thanks to his family’s generous donation of his organs after he passed. “His heart was donated and everything on his body, so he’s out helping other people,” Serna said. “I know his spirit is in heaven, and I know he’s giving other people a second chance at life.”
Meanwhile a lawsuit is underway. The family is suing the city and two neighbors, claiming the wire cable should not have been there in the first place.
Raymond Bishop, the family’s attorney, said: “[There’s] the need for the city to keep the community, its highways, its byways, and its rights of way. That’s what this was, a right of way, safe for travel for all people. Then, perhaps then, the family can feel some sense of closure.