
When parents entrust their children to a day care center, the last thing they expect is that their kid will die. Tragically, that’s exactly what happened to the parents of a toddler in Texas. Their 1-year-old and a teacher are dead after a Montessori school parent recently crashed into a play area.
Following the December 2024 accident, MKaya Amrani, 1, and Alexia Rosales, 22, died from their injuries. A second teacher and four other children were also hurt and taken to a nearby hospital. And now, the families of the deceased are suing both the school and the driver.
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The crash involving 1-year-olds at the Texas Montessori school happened on December 19, 2024.
The incident happened about 4 p.m. that day at Excelled Montessori Plus School near Boerne, Texas. According to police, a vehicle accelerated into another car, causing both vehicles to crash into a fence and onto 1-year-olds playing on a playground, per the San Antonio Report. Two teachers and five 1-year-olds were injured in the crash, with victims pinned under the vehicle.
Sadly, Rosales died that day; Mkaya died on January 2.
On December 23, family members filed a lawsuit.
Mkaya’s mother, Desirae Palacio, and Carlos Rosales, a family member of Alexia Rosales, filed a lawsuit. In it, they named the driver of the vehicle, Valerie L. Haas, and the school, KSAT reported. They are seeking $1 million in physical and emotional damages.
The driver allegedly has a medical history that may have contributed to the incident.
Palacio and Rosales’ lawyer, Tre Vela, pointed to a medical episode police said Haas reportedly suffered during the crash. He claimed Haas “failed to exercise reasonable care to avoid harming others,” KENS 5 News reported.
“From what we understand, we have reason to believe this type of medical episode could have happened at any time, and therefore the driver should not have been driving,” Vela said.
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Additionally, they claimed the school failed to protect their children.
“The lives of these children and these teachers were not protected,” Vela said, per KENS 5 News.
He added, “The only barrier they had between that parking lot and that play area was a rod iron fence not built to withstand the power of a vehicle when vehicles are constantly coming in and out of that parking lot.”
Additionally, Vela described the deaths as the “loss of the companionship that young Mkaya and Alexia would have had for the rest of their lives, the rest of their parents’ lives.”
The parents submitted a proposed ordinance to protect kids at child care centers.
On January 6, 2025, another of the families’ attorneys, Andrea De La Garza, submitted a proposed ordinance to Rep. Ray Lopez, D-San Antonio. It’s called the Amrani-Rosales Safety Ordinance, per KEN 5 News. The proposal calls for Bexar County to require safety measures, such as barriers, to protect playgrounds (and other areas where kids and staff gather) at all licensed child care centers. Fines or suspension of the center’s operating license would be the penalty.
“By adopting these standards, Bexar County will take a proactive step in protecting its youngest and most vulnerable residents, fostering a safer community for all,” the document reads, per KENS 5 News. “This ordinance is a tribute to MKaya Amrani and Alexia Rosales, whose memory will inspire us to prioritize safety and prevent future tragedies.”