Sad News: Whittier Christian’s Ethan Hawks passes; Please pray for him and his family and friends

Ethan Hawks, who played football for Whittier Christian High School, died Thursday days after being struck by a piece of metal while riding as a passenger on the 57 freeway in Anaheim. Courtesy Ming Lin

Ethan Hawks, who played football for Whittier Christian High School, died Thursday days after being struck by a piece of metal while riding as a passenger on the 57 freeway in Anaheim. Courtesy Ming Lin


By Hannah Madans
IRVINE >>
Whittier Christian High School football defensive end Ethan Hawks died Thursday morning after a freeway accident Saturday, according to the Orange County coroner’s office.The boy, 17, was put in a medically induced coma at UC Irvine Medical Center after a piece of metal weighing 7 to 10 pounds went through the windshield of a car he was in. The car was traveling south on the 57 Freeway, south of Katella Avenue in Anaheim.
The metal sliced through his neck.
Hawks was riding in the front passenger seat of a Hyundai sedan driven by his mother, Kathleen Hawks, around 2:30 p.m. Saturday when the metal object either fell off a truck or was struck by another vehicle and launched into the air, California Highway Patrol Officer Florentino Olivera previously told this news organization.
Anyone with information about this incident can contact the CHP’s Santa Ana bureau at 714-567-6000.
Sergio Gradilla, head coach of the Heralds football team, previously described Hawks as a “tough young man.”
Last year, Hawks sustained a season-ending compound leg fracture during a game against Maranatha High School of Pasadena.
Many people believed Hawks, now a junior, would not play football again. Instead, several months later he was practicing again with teammates, Gradilla said.
He started for the Heralds this season.
Gradilla described Hawks as outgoing and said he enjoyed making his teammates laugh.
“He is always cracking jokes,” Gradilla said. “He just wants to have great time with everybody.”
Whittier Christian established a GoFundMe account for donations to help Hawks family after the accident.
Staff writer Scott Schwebke contributed to this report.

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