The family of a 20-year-old Kyrgyzstan Doordash driver killed in multivehicle crash on I-95 had ‘so many plans’ for his life in the U.S.
Tolobek Esenbekov had 'a million plans, a million dreams,' his family said, before his life was cut short in a crash police say was caused by a woman drunk, speeding, and using a hands-free system.
Without fail, at the end of every long shift he spent working for DoorDash, Tolobek Esenbekov would call his mother to let her know he was on his way home.
On March 3, he called her to say he would be there soon. Esenbekov never arrived.
Esenbekov, 20, was killed along with his friend Aktilek Baktybekov in a car crash police say was caused by a woman who was driving drunk, speeding, and using her vehicle’s hands-free driving system. His death took his family’s dreams with him, said brother Adilet Kubatov.
The youngest of six siblings, Esenbekov had moved to Philadelphia with his mother from Kyrgyzstan two years ago, and the family had high hopes for their future in the U.S.
“We had so many plans in our lives,” Kubatov said. “The youngest one is the angel one in every family.”
Esenbekov was struck and killed at the side of I-95 after he stopped to help Baktybekov, whose car had stalled. He was getting out of his car when a speeding Ford Mustang Mach-E slammed into the back of his Hyundai Elantra, causing a multivehicle crash that killed both men, Pennsylvania State Police said.
Dimple Patel, 23, was later charged with homicide by vehicle, vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving, and related crimes and turned herself in to authorities earlier this month. She failed a field sobriety test, police said, and a toxicology report confirmed the presence of alcohol in her system.
Patel was using the Mustang’s BlueCruise hands-free driving feature, along with cruise control, investigators said. Although it is unclear if she was texting at the time of the crash, Patel was holding her phone in her hand when troopers encountered her at the scene, said Trooper Paul Holdefer, spokesperson for State Police Troop K.
Patel’s attorney, Zak Goldstein, said his client is out on bail and feels “terrible for the families.” He emphasized that police reports are not evidence and Patel is presumed innocent.
“This obviously is a tragedy that two people died,” Goldstein said. “She’s devastated, feels absolutely terrible to have had any involvement at all in any of this.”
Efforts to reach Baktybekov’s family were unsuccessful.
Esenbekov’s loved ones, meanwhile, remain stricken. His life, they said, held such promise.
He had been taking English classes, his brother said, and planned to go to college.
“He had millions of plans, millions of dreams,” his brother said. “Now nothing. Our family is destroyed.”