CEDAR PARK — As Tansy Silva walked up to the podium at Cedar Park City Council Thursday, she was overcome with grief.
Silva’s 8-year-old son Elijah Chaudhary and his half-brother, 1-year-old Daniel Chaudhary, were killed during in a traffic accident on the afternoon of January 10.
Silva spoke about the accident that took her son's life, but also brought forward changes she wants to see made at the intersection where the crash happened. She urged Cedar Park City Council to install speed bumps, better signage, and a better timed traffic light system.
Elijah and Daniel were riding in the car with their stepmother at the time of the crash. Police said as the family proceeded to turn left onto Walton Way, their car was hit by 18-year-old Hayden Hammer, who was in a pickup truck headed westbound.
“We have to do something or this will continue to happen. I don’t want another family to go through this pain,” Silva said.
According to court records, Hammer admitted to police he was “drag racing” at the time, police said.
Hammer and another driving allegedly racing, Blake Kirkpatrick, were both arrested.
Silva believes this tragedy could have been avoided.
“My son has Austin and he was making improvements. It’s so hard to imagine life without him,” Silva said.
Cedar Park Media & Communications Manager Jennie Huerta released this statement:
“The city is very interested to hear from Elijah’s mother and her comments will be seriously considered as we continue conducting a thorough evaluation into all factors that were involved in the tragic crash that took two innocent young lives, and caused grave injuries to a mother forever impacting the involved families and our entire community.While we are constantly monitoring all of the intersections and roadways within our city limits and evaluating them for safety, anytime there is a tragic loss of any life on any roadway in Cedar Park it triggers a thorough staff review, including any Police investigation, into all of the factors involved in a crash. In this case our Police Department’s criminal investigation is still ongoing but we can say that the appropriate steps will be determined and taken as warranted once our review and the criminal investigation are complete.”