3-Year-Old Killed in Crash After Mother's Boyfriend Abducts Him, Drives Into Tree

By Maggie Gile On 7/16/21 at 2:37 PM EDT

A 3-year-old was killed in a car crash in Plantation, Florida, after his mother's boyfriend abducted him and drove at a high speed into a tree, the Associated Press reported. The driver, who also died, was believed to have lost control of the vehicle.

A woman who was visiting relatives nearby heard the crash and went to her family's apartment balcony, where she saw the car engulfed in flames, she told WPLG-TV. She saw another vehicle stopped on the opposite side of the roadway.

"I heard two booming sounds right after the crash and then a woman screaming for her baby," Elizabeth Velasco told WPLG. "She was like, 'My baby! My baby!' And I actually started crying when I heard that because I felt really helpless and I couldn't do anything about it."

Velasco said she was about to call 911, but the police showed up. "They came right away, and all I saw was just flames and that woman screaming. I didn't know what to do," she said.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:

Car Crash Kills 3-Year-Old — A Florida man abducted his girlfriend's young son during an argument and then sped off in her car before losing control and crashing into a tree, killing both himself and the child on Thursday. Above, police officer Daniel Arteaga and other officers inspect a car they were chasing, which crashed into a fence after hitting a fire hydrant in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on May 1. Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images

Plantation police identified the dead as Ryan Yates, 25, and 3-year-old James Oizan-Chapon but have not released many details.

But the boy's grandmother, Maria Cid, told WPLG-TV that Yates was arguing with her 25-year-old daughter, Yasmin Cid, at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday when he grabbed James and drove away with him in her black 2014 Mercedes-Benz as the mom tried unsuccessfully to free her son.

The Mercedes hit the tree at high speed, splitting in two and erupting in flames. Yasmin Cid soon arrived at the scene.

The South Florida SunSentinel reports that Yates had a lengthy arrest record. In 2014, he was charged with battery, but that case was dropped. In 2017, he was charged with grand theft auto. He pleaded no contest and was put on three year's probation.

He violated his probation the next year by traveling to Oklahoma, where he was charged with burglary and obstructing a police officer. Florida revoked his probation and he spent 18 months in prison.

In February, he was charged with battery, domestic battery by strangulation, grand theft auto and robbery. A trial was scheduled for next month.

Plantation is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

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