WRECKAGE TESTAMENT TO DANGER REMNANTS OF FATAL CRASH DRIVE MESSAGE HOME TO KIDS.
Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer, Los Angeles Daily News, 2002
BURBANK - His voice will never be heard again, but Cesar Gonzalez's message speaks through the twisted steel that was once his sleek, black Pontiac Grand Prix .This is what could happen in a split second if you speed, the car reminds students at John Burrough's High School, where the wreckage is on display.
Gonzalez, a 23-year-old Burbank High School graduate with his sights set on a career in law enforcement, died last month when he lost control of his speeding car and slammed into a wall along San Fernando Road, police said..
``This kind of disturbs me a little bit,'' said 17-year-old senior Blade Banzali, who has been rebuilding a 1969 Chevy Nova and plans to race the car in a legal event in Palmdale. ``This shows that this doesn't just apply to rebel drivers. It applies to everyone.''
During lunchtime on a recent afternoon, as students munched on slices of pepperoni pizza, some paused to look at the car displayed at the front entrance of the school. A photograph of Gonzalez, along with a small biography, was posted nearby. Most students who stopped by said they know someone who participates in illegal drag race
For 15-year-old Cristina Rodriguez, who is learning how to drive, the image of the car made her shudder - she had been involved in an accident on the freeway last year, she said. ``I'm afraid to drive on freeways,'' she said. Her friend Leonela Donado, 16, said she couldn't believe the wreckage. ``Looking at it, I can't believe an actual person was once in there,'' she said. ``He was so young, that's the scary thing.''
Gonzalez was neither a racer, . nor irresponsible, but a young man who had spent much of his teen years enrolled in the Burbank Police Explorers Post, said officers who knew him. He dreamed of a career in law enforcement and had been working as a security guard at Universal Studios.
About 3 p.m. April 30, 2002 he was on his way to pick up a friend to give him a ride to work - one example of his commitment to his friends and family, said his youngest sister, Reyna Gonzalez, a senior at Burbank High. Reyna said she was the one who convinced her parents to donate her brother's vehicle to police. ``I want to see the car again,'' she said. ``Maybe it will help me deal with this.'' She said her brother would have approved. ``He wanted to do good,'' she said. ``He wanted to be a cop, to change the world and leave his mark.''
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