BROCKTON, Mass. — Part of the reason Tony Sostre was crying so hard as he spoke is the person who always made him laugh, his son, who shared his own name, is no longer with him.
“He loved to go fishing, he loved to go to the car shows with me, he loved family,” said his father, Tony Sostre Sr. “I just want everybody to remember him for the little prankster that he was. The jokes, he would come at anybody with some good ones.”
The 19-year-old, according to witnesses, was driving down East Street when he hit a telephone pole and then finally came to a stop at a tree that is now cut in half.
“I heard that ‘boom’ sound,” said Ifeoma, who lives nearby. “My pole was down, my lights went out right away. The wires were on the ground.”
Neighbors called 911 and stayed with him until medics took him to Brockton Hospital.
“He was coughing blood, he cannot speak,” Ifeoma said.
Once doctors pronounced him dead at the hospital, word spread quickly to his Brockton High classmates.
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“It was really sad finding out that he died,” said classmate Michael Kimani.
His mall coworkers also began to mourn with the family.
“He was stressing out because his car was not working properly,” said coworker Talijah Lopes. “He had a bunch of stuff wrong with his car, his brake pads were going, and he was really stressing trying to get the money to fix it.”
“I want everybody to remember him for the awesome kid that he was,” Sostre Sr. said.
“Our hearts are with the student’s loved ones as they cope with this terrible loss,” a spokesperson from Brockton High School said.
The school is also offering grief counseling. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
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