Olvin Cabrera Valladares left home to go to school on the morning of September 25. According to his mother, Estefanía Valladares , her son always used to say goodbye with a hug and a kiss. That morning was no exception.
Continue Reading »“He would always say goodbye with a kiss and a hug,” she told Univision . “He’d tell me, ‘I love you, Fanía,’ and give me a kiss right here on the cheek.”
But Olvin never made it to school. Instead, he rode his scooter to Shenandoah Park. Later that day, a man visited the park with his children, and discovered the 13-year-old trapped inside the slide, reports People .
According to Olvin’s mother, his T-shirt had gotten caught on a screw inside the slide. The man tried to pull him out and eventually succeeded.
“He told me he pulled on him, but he was caught on a screw,” Valladares told Local 10 News. “He pulled again, and my son fell out. His arm was inside of his shirt, and his collar was tight around his neck.”
The man immediately stared giving CPR while paramedics were called to the scene. Olvin was then taken to the hospital, where doctors attempted to save his life. The family held out hope for a miracle until the very end.
But on October 1, six days after the accident, the family announced that Olvin had been declared brain dead.
“He was my baby, my youngest, just 13 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him,” Valladares told Local 10 News. “He just wanted to play, and sadly, it was playing that took his life… As a mother, it’s very hard to lose a son.”
One day after the accident, the city of Miami closed the park for an investigation. However, it reopened the very next day, and the slide was used again.
Following Olvin’s tragic death, Miami politician Rolando Escalona has called for an investigation and requested that the city’s playground equipment be inspected.
Olvin’s mother also wants to urge other parents to be extra careful when their children play on playgrounds.
“Look at the tragedy that happened to my son,” she has said.
The family has also started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help cover the costs of Olvin’s funeral.
For Olvin’s family, the loss is inseparable from the ordinary goodbye that began the day. His mother’s memory of a hug, a kiss, and his familiar words conveys how little warning there was. The morning belonged to an everyday routine; the hours that followed changed the family’s life.
The stranger’s attempt to help is another central part of the account. He encountered the boy while visiting the park with his own children, tried to free him, and began CPR while emergency assistance was being called. His actions became part of the family’s understanding of what had happened inside the slide.
The questions about the equipment remain important to the story. The account describes a park closure, a reopening, and a subsequent request for investigation and inspection. Those events are separate from the family’s grief, but they explain why the incident prompted concern beyond the people who knew Olvin personally.
