Single mom rebuilding life after wrong-way drunk driver leaves family injured and one dead

ARCADIA, Fla. (WINK)—A single mother and her son are speaking out about the injuries they suffered in a wrong-way crash that killed a 21-year-old nursing student.

Jacqueline Flores, her son Aleksander Guevara and his brother were injured when Dennis Olsen hit their vehicle. Olsen then struck and killed Lauryn Akey, a USF student studying to become a nurse.

"I remember just seeing his headlights, and it was too little too late," Flores said. "And then I somehow reacted in time and was able to swerve to the right a little bit to avoid a complete head-on collision with him. But he still, he still hit us."

Flores had taken her son and his brother to Dave & Busters with a giftcard from an old job before the crash.

The driver's side of Flores' Kia was sheared off in the crash.

"When i went back to look at it, there was nothing left. The speakers were on the outside of the car," said Flores. 

Metal spikes sticking out of the car were safety features that may have saved their lives, according to Flores.

Flores had glass embedded in her arm, bruising on her legs and will need back surgery. Guevara suffered a concussion and needs an MRI for a lump on his hip. His brother is in a wheelchair and will need physical therapy.

"We weren't unconscious," Flores said. "I was out of it for a while, like out of it as in like, I think I was saying the same thing on repeat, 'I can't believe this happened.'"

"Now I don't think I'm gonna wanna drive," Guevara said, his mother telling WINK News they're both traumatized.

For the last year and a half, Flores had been working two full-time jobs and DoorDashing on the side to make ends meet and support her son. She had just purchased her car in February and landed a job as a solar consultant that paid well enough for her to go home to her son in the evenings.

Flores, her son and his brother were celebrating her first week of training at Dave and Busters before the crash.

"It was supposed to change our lives," Flores said. "When the accident happened, I wasn't able to complete my training, so ultimately I ended up losing that job."

"I was on my phone, and I just looked up and I saw the headlights," Guevara said. "That's it."

Flores said the last month has been the hardest challenge of her life.

"It's been rough, not having family, not having a support system or, you know, the village that they say you need," Flores said. "It's been, it's been the hardest, like, challenge of my life."

Flores said the crash ripped away the little bit keeping her afloat.

"With the major cuts that have been made to the government funding and any type of government assistance, it was at the worst time really," said Flores. "I'm still looking for rental assistance. I'm still looking for all kinds of assistance.”

There is a GoFundMe set up for Flores and her son.

“ I feel really selfish complaining about our situation because we were blessed to walk away with our lives, you know?" Flores said.

Akey's mother reached out to Flores on Facebook.

"She has gone out of her way to check on us going through what she's going through," Flores said. "And I thank her for that, and I check on her as well, and I just, I hope that justice is served in this situation."

Flores has dyed her hair and painted her nails pink in honor of Akey.

"I even colored my hair her favorite color, and that's why my nails are painted," Flores said, wanting to create a tribute to the young woman at the site of the crash.

"I hope she's in paradise, a beautiful beach somewhere," Flores said.

Flores hopes there will be stricter penalties for impaired drivers and more prevention tools installed to stop drivers like Olsen. Olsen had previously been charged with a DUI but was only given two years of probation and a training course.

"That's the most angering part of it, is that they'll go out drinking, they'll make the active decision to drive home, take somebody's life, and then walk away with just a scratch or a bump like Dennis did," Flores said. "And just don't do it. It's not worth it."

Olsen is expected back in court on Monday. In May, he pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter.