SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida family is sharing their pain after a young boy died nearly two weeks after he was struck while crossing the street in Sunny Isles Beach.
A memorial has been built in honor of 11-year-old Anthony Reznik, who was struck and seriously injured crossing the pedestrian crosswalk on the 300 block of Sunny Isles Boulevard on Feb. 10. On Wednesday, Anthony succumbed to his injuries.
“This is my first night at home,” said Anthony’s mother, Inna Trakhtenburg. “I was there with Anthony’s dad. We were there 24/7. If you look at those vital signs, you would see that this is a perfectly healthy baby that is ready to get out of the hospital, but he didn’t because his brain was not functioning.”
Trakhtenburg still wears the visitor sticker from Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood.
Anthony was a happy, athletic child. Just two months shy of his 12th birthday, he was declared brain dead.
“Every single second, I was hoping that he would wake up,” Trakhtenburg said. “It’s some kind of like a numbness, a feeling mixed with such a huge grief that I don’t know if it will ever heal. Everybody knew him as a kind, intelligent, very honest friend.”
His older sister, Tatiana, was with him when he was hit.
“They were going to CVS to get some soda for his friends, and he was hit,” his mother said.
The family is now trying to move forward by giving the gift of life to others.
“He wasn’t only my brother, he was my best friend, and we were getting so close, so it really hurts to see this happen to him,” said Tatiana, “but I’m happy he had friends that really looked up to me and him.”
Anthony’s mother said they decided to donate Anthony’s organs, and though he’s gone, they hope to find peace in knowing he’s still helping others.
“That gives me another chance to know that pieces of Anthony will walk on this Earth and help others to grow and be happy,” she said.
Flowers, balloons and stuffed animals were laid down in honor of Anthony. Passersby were saddened and angered by the tragedy.
“Very, very, very sad,” one man said.
“My child is 7 years old,” one woman said. “He lives in this town, and this is ridiculous what’s happening.”
Residents said drivers speeding is a common sight where the 11-year-old was struck. Police officers are stationed where Anthony was hit to pull over any driver who runs the red light.
“I don’t see people speeding in Golden Beach or in Bal Harbour, but for some reason, Sunny Isles is a race track,” a resident said.
Two weeks after an 11 year old boy was hit by a car crossing the street @sunnyislesbeach police are ticketing red light runners one after another. The child’s parents are donating his organs. pic.twitter.com/4vWjmwahJZ
— Brandon Beyer (@beyernews) February 25, 2021
People from the community have created a Change.org petition to change the name of Sunny Isles Boulevard to Anthony Reznik Boulevard. The petition has over 2,800 signatures so far.
“Hopefully with his name, a lot of fixing will happen in the city where we live, because the city where we live has a lot of families, little kids,” Trakhtenburg said.
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