Mom Pays Tribute to 13-Year-Old Son Taken Off Life Support Days After Being Struck by Police Car

"He was a star in the making," mom Claudia Stinson tells PEOPLE about her late son Anthony, who dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player

Claudia Stinson still recalls a talk she had with her then-11-year-old son Anthony in 2021. The mother-son duo from Long Island had just heard a story about a boy who received a new heart and later met the mother whose son died via FaceTime.

“I said, 'I'm donating my organs, Anthony. You’ve got to help,'” Claudia tells PEOPLE about their conversation. “‘If something happens to you, would you donate yours to help the kids?’ And he nodded.”

Anthony, 13, was severely injured on Sept. 9, when the bike he was riding collided with a police vehicle in Shirley, where the family lives. He was pronounced brain dead on Sept. 11, says Claudia. Two days later, Anthony was taken off life support and his organs were donated to save the lives of others.

“I never thought that it would come to this,” Claudia says. “I'm so proud of him. Anthony was a kind boy, and he liked to help other kids.”

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According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the patrol officer drove his vehicle with its lights and siren activated while responding to a call about an elderly woman in medical distress. When the car passed through a green light at William Floyd Parkway and Adobe Drive, it struck Anthony, according to a police statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Claudia tells PEOPLE that before leaving the house that day, she had just cut her son's hair at home. Afterwards, he rode his bike to hang out with friends. While he was still out, he called his mom to tell her he would be home by 8 p.m.

“The first thing he said was, ‘Mom, I'm in trouble,’ because he knew it was kind of getting dark,” Claudia recalls. “And I said, ‘Well, I'm just upset that you turned off your location and we need to talk about that…You just be careful.’”

Claudia, who lives a couple of houses away from the intersection where her son was struck, recalls hearing a booming crash around 7:50 p.m. In her heart, she knew her son was in trouble, so she rushed shoeless to the scene.

“He was hardly breathing,” says Claudia, who has been a nurse for 23 years. “Totally unconscious. I looked at his eyes, his pupils. [They were] so dilated that I knew there was severe brain damage.”

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The Suffolk County Police Department said in a news release obtained by PEOPLE that Anthony was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital. They added that the officer involved in the crash was treated at the same hospital for minor injuries and released.

A shaken Claudia was taken to the hospital by a police escort and managed to see her son, who had not yet been intubated. Following a CAT scan, a doctor later told Claudia the grim news about her son's "severe injuries," which she already knew.

“They were saying, ‘I just don't want to give you hope, but the blood did not go past the neck up. He has a severe brain stem injury,’" she says. "And I said, ‘I lost my child.’”

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Claudia, a single mother, was still hoping that a miracle might happen while Anthony was breathing on a ventilator. The night after the crash, a prayer vigil was held at the family’s house. Meanwhile, Anthony’s friends set up a makeshift memorial outside of the Stinsons’ home that included a soccer ball and football from the two favorite sports he played.

On the afternoon of Sept. 11, Anthony was declared brain dead after being unresponsive to medical tests, Claudia says. Two days later, he was taken off life support, and surgery was performed to remove his organs for donation. Claudia remembered saying goodbye to Anthony at the operating room door. On that same day, a group of his friends, including his former soccer teammates, visited the hospital to pay their respects.

"Seeing him for the last time, I didn’t expect it and knowing he’s not going to come back," Randy Guevara, 12, told Newsday. "Nobody was expecting it to happen and I didn’t get to say goodbye for the last time."

"Anthony saved the lives of five people between 30 and 60 years old, in Massachusetts and New York who were in need of a heart, lung, liver, kidneys, and pancreas transplants to have a second chance at life," said Leonard Achan, the president and CEO of LiveOnNY, a nonprofit that facilitates organ donation and transplantation, in a Sept. 15 statement shared on Facebook. "LiveOnNY is humbled and honored to be the stewards of these precious gifts on behalf of Anthony and his family so that he and others may Live On."

Claudia described Anthony as both kind and goofy — someone who could make a person laugh. For the first six years of his life, he struggled with his social skills and a speech delay, but he eventually overcame those difficulties. Recently, he started the eighth grade at William Paca Middle School in Mastic Beach. "He was a very smart kid, too," Claudia tells PEOPLE.

Anthony was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 11 and received treatment for it, Claudia says, noting that his biggest form of therapy was playing football and soccer. "He wanted to be an NYCFC player," Claudia says, referring to the professional soccer team, the New York City Football Club. "I don't want to put him up on a pedestal, but he was a star in the making."

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One major highlight for Anthony was when he got accepted into SUSA FC, a soccer academy in Long Island. "We planned that dream," Claudia fondly remembers. "He said, ‘I made SUSA, I made SUSA.’ He got to play in a couple of tournaments with them."

In a Facebook post shared on Sept. 12, SUSA FC mourned Anthony's death, writing, "Words are completely inadequate to express our sorrow, with the tragic passing of Anthony Stinson…The SUSA family would like to convey our heartfelt condolences and unity with the William Floyd/Mastic Beach community in this time of grief."

Claudia says that she quit her job in July as a supervisor at a nursing home. She had previously worked nights for about seven or eight years "so I could be home during the days for Anthony."

She adds, "I was a stay-at-home mom for the first time in my life for three months with my son."

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Meanwhile, the Suffolk County Police Department told PEOPLE in an email that its major crimes unit is "investigating the motor vehicle crash.” They also said that Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison had contacted Claudia and that he would meet with her.

On Sept. 14, the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation announced that it would open a probe into Anthony’s death, as it is standard procedure when a police officer “may have caused the death of a person by an act or omission.”

Claudia wonders why the patrol officer who drove the vehicle couldn't have slowed down prior to the collision. She tells PEOPLE, “I would like to talk to [the patrol officer] and tell [him], ‘After all this, I'm not mad at you.’ But I'm mad at the protocol…because you've got to think of others [such as] pedestrians. Somebody like my son."

Claudia describes her son as a "star kid who turned into a hero kid."

“I want him to be remembered as a kind, giving, loving kid,” she says. “I want him to be an inspiration for the community, parents, and kids that one day will also donate [their organs] in case something happens – let’s give the gift of life to others.”

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