In a sadly eerie twist, singer Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who was killed in a car crash in Honduras last Thursday, was riding in a van that fatally struck a 10-year-old Honduran boy weeks before her own death.
Reports of the accident that claimed the life of Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez came as Lopes’ grieving family made final preparations for her funeral.
Lopes was a passenger in a Mitsubishi driven by her personal assistant near the Reyes Caballero neighborhood on April 6 when the boy suddenly stepped off the median, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday.
The newspaper quoted a lawyer in Honduras, Patrick James Bennett, who it said had represented Lopes in other matters, as saying the accident wasn’t reported to police.
The TLC singer paid about $3,700 for the child’s medical care and funeral, and also gave the boy’s family about $925, Bennett told the paper.
The child “was on the main street with a group of people who crossed over,” he said. “The kid jumped in front. That’s the reason the family pressed no charges.”
The family never even knew Lopes was famous until after her death, the boy’s grandmother told The Post last night.
“We didn’t realize she was someone famous. She was a normal person,” Berta Martinez said.
“At the time, we weren’t worried about who she was. We just knew she picked up my grandson and rushed him to the best hospital in the area.”
Martinez said the family believes that “no one was at fault” in the accident.
Rob Goldstone, of TLC’s management company, told The Post yesterday that Lopes’ family “has heard of the previous accident report, and at this time is too distressed to make any comment because they’re organizing a funeral.”
He said Lopes’ body was flown from Honduras to Atlanta yesterday, accompanied by her brother, Ron.
A private viewing will be held in Atlanta tomorrow night “for family and close friends only,” Goldstone said.
Funeral services will be held Thursday at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta and “fans are expected to be at the service,” he said.
“It is expected that a number of celebrity performers who are friends of Lisa and her family will sing in the service,” Goldstone said.
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2JlfXN7j21mbGhfobKnwIyesJ6rXauur3nKoqOlnZRirm6vx6KjnWWnmrKsv4ybnJ%2Bnopp6qbHRZqawpl2ZsqLAx2g%3D