{"id":111817,"date":"2026-01-05T21:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/111817\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:33:10","slug":"tragedy-on-ayers-street-neighbor-urges-safety-after-pedestrians-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/111817\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragedy on Ayers Street: Neighbor urges safety after pedestrian’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

An accident on Ayers Street claimed the life of 68-year-old Manny, sparking community calls for better safety measures in areas lacking crosswalks and lighting.<\/p>\n

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 On this busy stretch of Ayers Street, traffic never seems to slow down. But markings on the road tell a tragic story from the moment it came to a halt Saturday night.<\/p>\n

A 68-year-old man named Manny died after being struck by a vehicle just after 6 p.m. Saturday in the 3300 block of Ayers Street near Tarlton Street, according to the Corpus Christi Police Department.<\/p>\n

Police said officers were dispatched to a report of a major traffic accident involving a vehicle and a pedestrian. When officers arrived, they found a male pedestrian with serious injuries and immediately began administering first aid until medics arrived.<\/p>\n

Manny was taken to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.<\/p>\n

Neighbors like Roscoe Vela knew him as Manny.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad, and I know he\u2019s in a better place and not in pain after what happened to him last night,\u201d Vela said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Pedestrian dies after being hit by vehicle on Ayers Street<\/a><\/p>\n

Vela said Manny was more than just a neighbor \u2014 he was a friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 14 years old when I met Manny, and I\u2019m 33 now, so that\u2019s about 16 years. He was our neighborhood friend,\u201d Vela said.<\/p>\n

When she first heard about the crash, she said it didn\u2019t sink in at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it\u2019s not someone I know, and sure enough, I get a call maybe three minutes later. It was just crazy,\u201d Vela said.<\/p>\n

Vela said crashes and close calls like this are all too common in the area, where there is no crosswalk. While we were there, we saw it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, just add lighting. I know you guys work hard every day and try to keep the city 100%, but add a little more lighting to the side. We might be saving other people\u2019s lives,\u201d Vela said.<\/p>\n

Now, her message is simple \u2014 slow down and wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it. Do you want to wait two or three minutes, or do you want to be gone forever? I\u2019d rather wait \u2014 even if it\u2019s a bus and you think you can make it, don\u2019t do it. Just wait. Because those few steps you take, you take your life, too,\u201d Vela said.<\/p>\n

Vela hopes Manny\u2019s death serves as a warning so no other family has to get the same phone call.<\/p>\n

The investigation remains active and ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Corpus Christi Police Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accident on Ayers Street claimed the life of 68-year-old Manny, sparking community calls for better safety measures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-111817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}