COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — October 8 marks a year since 10-year-old Grace Baca was injured in a car crash that ultimately killed her about a month later.
Sunday is the first 5K Race in Honor of Grace Baca at the Adams County Fairgrounds. It is the Baca family's mission to continue Grace's legacy through her passion by providing scholarships to dancers. Registration is available Sunday beginning at 8 a.m., and race starts at 9 a.m.
The crash is a memory that will always haunt her mom, Megan Baca.
“I was at a complete stop and like four minutes away from my home and I was rear-ended,” Baca said.
Baca said she heard a scream from her backseat.
“The driver hit me so hard that the seat folded in half and the windshield went through the back part,” she said. “Pulled Grace out and she wasn't breathing.”
Grace died a few weeks later on November 11, 2022.
“At a blink of an eye your world is completely over,” Baca said.
Taytum Roybal was in the back seat of the car with her during the crash.
She was Grace’s best friend. “She felt more like a sister though,” Roybal said.
The dynamic duo did everything together from making videos, to out-of-state dance competitions and late-night calls.
“We would wake up and she would be like, ‘You fell asleep!’ I can’t help it,” Roybal said. “She was very funny and she lit up the room wherever she was. She was just super happy.”
“She was a really good dancer, it was her joy," Baca said. "She was fun to watch because she loved it so much."
The 5K will award a dancer a $1,000 scholarship and give back to the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado.
“I’ll never forget her, but I don't want the world to forget her,” Baca said.
“Just kind of thinking about her, remembering who she was and the person she was,” Tatum said.
The driver, Jay Gergen, is facing traffic charges for careless driving resulting in injury, and careless driving resulting in death.
The Baca's have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and they said they want him charged with a felony when he's back in court on October 13.
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