Organizers urge public dialogue to prevent further desecration.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The “Ghost Helmet Project” is facing yet another setback as organizers work to spread awareness during Motorcycle Safety Month.
The family of Austin Gonzalez — who inspired the initiative — woke up Thursday morning to a call that his memorial helmet had been removed from its location near Rossiter Street and Ocean Drive for the second year in a row.
That memorial marks the spot where Austin was killed in a motorcycle crash in January 2023.
3NEWS cameras were there as Austin’s parents searched for the missing helmet, eventually finding it discarded inside a nearby dumpster.
It remains unclear why the helmet was removed or thrown away, but Austin’s father, Joe Gonzalez, is asking the public to contact organizers directly if they have concerns about a memorial’s location.
“If there is a helmet in your area, if you don’t like it for whatever reason, reach out to us. We will have it moved. There is no need to throw it away. There is no need to desecrate it. Someone else put time and effort into it, and we will move it to a different location if that’s the case,” said Joe Gonzalez.
Earlier this week, two other ghost helmets were also removed from memorial sites across Corpus Christi.
Organizers are asking anyone concerned about a helmet’s placement to contact them through the project’s Facebook page.