The mother of a 14-year-old boy who died in a traffic accident  Saturday afternoon said she begged her youngest not to go out with his  sister and her boyfriend to the beach for a bonfire that day.

"I  wanted him to go shopping with me at Main Place," said a tearful  Jaslene Nguyen, sitting in a counselor's office at Peek Funeral Home in  Westminster while waiting to buy a casket for her teenage son.

But  Phoenix Nguyen, an outgoing freshman at Bolsa Grande High School,  wanted to go out with his sister and friends and have fun after eating  a home-cooked meal of crawfish and rice his mother had cooked.

"It was his favorite meal," Jaslene Nguyen said. "He wouldn't touch any other seafood, but he loved my crawfish."

The  next time she saw her son was at UCI Medical Center a little after 8  p.m. Saturday after the doctor told her outside the operating room that  her son had died.

Like everyone else, Nguyen said she is trying  to make sense out of the accident. She said Ty Van Nguyen, 18, of  Garden Grove, who was identified as the driver of the Acura Integra in  which Phoenix was a passenger, is her daughter Paulene's boyfriend of  three years.

Paulene was due to be released from Western  Medical Center in Santa Ana Monday night, her sister Marlene said.  Jennifer Doan, a 17-year-old student at Bolsa Grande, remains  hospitalized with severe injuries. Ty Van Nguyen and another passenger,  Trinh Nguyen, 17, have been released, Marlene Nguyen said.

The  man whose car was hit, Devin Miller, said Sunday that investigators  told him the vehicle that hit him was racing with at least one other  car. Police would not confirm that.

"From what Paulene told  me, Ty missed the stop sign because it wasn't very visible and he  couldn't see it," Jaslene Nguyen said. "I think we should wait for the  police to investigate and wait to hear the truth before jumping to any  conclusions."

Two other cars at the scene of the accident were  impounded, but police have not made any arrests and need to investigate  more before considering charges, said Sgt. Rob Warden of the Huntington  Beach Police Department.

Ty Van Nguyen was driving southbound  just before 5 p.m. on Bushard Street when he ran the stop sign on  Banning Avenue, police said in a news release.

His Acura collided with a white Cadillac Escalade driven by Miller, 39, who was driving east on Banning.

Miller  was driving his family of five – including three boys, 5, 4, and 13  months – and a 5-year-old girl to a birthday party at the time. No one  in Miller's car was hurt.

"If I was one second (later), you wouldn't be talking to me or any of my kids," Miller said.

Jaslene  Nguyen described Phoenix as a mature, caring boy who was the "man of  the family" and took care of his mom and three sisters: Paulene,  Marlene and Madelene. She said Phoenix was 5 years old when her husband  died of cancer.

Phoenix took after his dad, who was also a drummer, said his uncle Keith Nguyen.

"He would practice playing his drum set, every evening in the garage," he said.

His 10-year-old cousin, Kathleen Dang, said Phoenix had just started teaching her to play the drums, too.

"We also played basketball," she said, wiping away tears. "And every time, he picked me to be on his team."

Phoenix  also played drums in the Bolsa Grande marching and jazz bands. The last  time most of his bandmates saw him was Friday night at the school's  Festival Concert at Don Walsh Auditorium at Garden Grove High School,  said John Miller, his music teacher.

Nguyen was the best drum kit player in the band and was quickly improving in other areas of percussion, Miller said.

"The whole band was pretty hurt by his loss," Miller said outside his classroom. Nobody inside was playing any music.

Last  Monday, Nguyen received the Coach's Award at the basketball team  banquet for being "an extension of the coach on the floor," varsity  coach Scott Snyder said.

The backup point guard on the freshman team would film the varsity team's upcoming opponents for the coach.

"He  would suit up and was an active member of the team, but when the rest  of the boys were up in the stands after the game talking to girls,  goofing off, he'd be helping us out," Snyder said.

Freshman coach Bac Nguyen said Phoenix never missed a practice.

"Every time I needed him, he was there for me," Nguyen said.