Fatal Crash Ties Tustin Families

Two Tustin families joined by their teenage sons’ friendship were linked in grief Sunday after a car accident took one boy’s life and left two brothers severely injured.

“I’d like to think he was part of the lightning show we saw last night and that he’s in our hearts,” said Jenny Shumar, whose 15-year-old son, James “Jimbo,” was killed when the car Chris Cruz, 17, was driving spun out of control late Saturday in Anaheim Hills. Chris and his brother Caleb, 15, remain in intensive care.

“About the only comfort is our family and our faith,” Shumar said.

Police said Chris was westbound in his Chevy Camaro on Nohl Ranch Road about 10:15 p.m. when he skidded off the four-lane street, hitting a curb and a phone utility box before crashing into a light pole. The roads were dry at the time of the crash, reports state.

“We really don’t know what caused them to lose control of the vehicle and hit things,” said Anaheim Police Sgt. Joe Vargas. “But it appears that speed is a primary collision factor.”

Vargas said a driver behind Chris said the Camaro was going in excess of 45 mph. The posted speed limit is 40 mph. Neither drugs nor alcohol was a factor, said Vargas, who would not comment on whether the teens had been wearing seat belts.

Another driver, Ryan Boatman, 17, of Anaheim, crashed his pickup into the curb when he swerved to avoid the Camaro, Vargas said. Boatman was uninjured.

James was taken to Kaiser Permanente Anaheim Medical Center, where he died. Chris was airlifted to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where his brother, Caleb, was also being treated.

James was remembered Sunday by family and friends as a fun-loving yet deeply religious boy who loved in-line skating and had won several awards in the sport.

The Orange Lutheran High School sophomore had spent the last two summers doing missionary work in Mexicali, Mexico, and teaching vacation Bible school in Spanish, his mother said. He had hoped to go to college and major in business, she said of her only son.

James’ 18-year-old sister was on her way back from missionary work in Africa; a 14-year-old sister is at home.

Jenny Shumar drove to Santa Ana to visit the distraught parents of Chris and Caleb as they kept a vigil outside the intensive-care unit. Shumar gave a special prayer that their sons would be all right.

“They’re not doing very well,” she said. “It’s very difficult. They’re just in a tough position.”

Hospital officials said the Cruz family had asked that information on the boys’ conditions be kept private, and that they had nothing to say to the public. “They are to absorb all of this,” said a hospital spokesman Sunday.

Across the street from the Shumar home, a large, tightknit group of James and Caleb’s friends held their own vigil Sunday. As they hung out and talked, they veered between moments of sadness and happiness as they reminisced about the boy’s gregarious personality and his love of 7-Eleven Slurpees.

Jesi Knight, 15, said she had spoken to James on the telephone Saturday night before he left to go out with his inseparable buddy, Caleb, and his older brother.

“I’m just so thankful I got to talk to him,” Knight said. “James was always there for me no matter what. He was very compassionate. He just cared more than just other people would.”