COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) -On Christmas morning, an uncle and his niece went on what was meant to be a short, fun and calm ATV ride in a neighborhood near Powers and Barnes, in northeast Colorado Springs. However, Chris Flores and Addisen Pruitt did not make it home.
Members of their family told 11 News they still don’t know who reported the ATV crash the two lost their lives in, but they want to thank whoever called 911.
Chris Flores woke up Christmas morning wanting his family to have a great holiday. Flores’s daughter Madelynn said that Addisen was going through the first Christmas without her brother.
“She spent a lot of time in her room, and my dad definitely wanted her to have fun and enjoy Christmas,” Madelynn said.
Chris offered to take Addisen on the family ATV. Family members said he’d driven it many times before.
“She went on even though she was a little bit scared,” Madelynn said, “but my dad was never the type to drive crazy or make somebody feel uncomfortable that way.”
As far as the family knows, the ATV hit a large rock, sending Flores and Pruitt down into the Sand Creek bed.
The two were taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where they both died.
“I’m just happy, in her last moments of life, she had fun,” Madelynn said when talking about her cousin.
Chris was a registered nurse. His family said he knew how life changing organ donors can be, so he was one himself. His cousin Jaqueline Stevens told 11 News his organs saved three lives.
“To know that he gave his organs to others, it just shows great resemblance of him and what he was all about,” Jaqueline said.
Chris was changing jobs, and the timing of his death leaves his four kids and widow wondering about financial burdens to come. GoFundMe pages for the families of Flores and Pruitt can be found here and here.
The family said they hope this reminds people to wear helmets when they head out on any adventures.
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