ROCHESTER, Minn — Olivia Flores was a shy child.
"Like painfully shy," he mother Stephanie laughed.
She was so uncomfortable as the center of attention, that she once burst into in tears when her family sang "Happy Birthday."
"Because people were focused on her and it was her day. I mean she absolutely hated it," Stephanie Flores said.
But Olivia blossomed into a loyal, true friend.
"She didn't care if you were wearing Lululemon. She didn't care if you had a past. She didn't care if you were a kid who struggled with mental health because she did too. Liv owned her flaws. And she made sure that those out there who were broken had a light," said Olivia's father Carlos Flores, sitting with his wife in their first television interview since Olivia's death.
Olivia was a star cheerleader at Owatonna High School, passionate about music, who looked forward - after graduation - to seeing and experiencing the world.
"She had this awesome nomadic spirit that I absolutely loved about her and love about her," Carlos Flores said.
Carlos and Stephanie Flores knew their daughter would spread her wings. But they never could have thought they'd lose her until a phone call from her best friend in May.
"[Olivia's friend] said, 'We were in an accident. I'm here with her. They're trying to get her out of the car. She's unconscious,'" Carlos Flores said.
After getting to the hospital, Carlos and Steph learned that Olivia would not be waking up.
"I got to put my hand on her chest and feel her heart stop beating," Carlos said.
"And after they pronounced her dead, she had one lone tear. One lone tear run down her right eye," Stephanie added.
"Like her way of saying, 'I'm sorry but I'm OK,'" Carlos finished.
Olivia's family went forward with her scheduled graduation party.
"We wanted to celebrate her and her life. Because she had so much of it. She was so fearless. She was always the one that said, 'Yes, let’s try that,'" Carlos said.
Weeks later, their pain was compounded. Olivia's parents knew a Minnesota State Trooper was involved in the crash. They assumed it was a horrible accident and that he had a good reason to be speeding so fast through an intersection that everyone in Rochester knows has cars turning in and out of the mall.
"I prepared myself for an accident," Carlos said. "I was prepared to go up to him and say, 'I forgive you.'"
But when Olivia's family learned the circumstances surrounding the crash, it added another layer to their grief. According to a criminal complaint, Minnesota State Trooper Shane Roper was driving 83 miles an hour, full throttle with his lights and siren off when he sped through the busy Rochester intersection by the mall and slammed into Olivia.
Records show he'd been suspended twice and reprimanded twice more for similar behavior.
"Once we found that out, it killed her all over again," Carlos said. "[Police officers] do something that a lot of us can’t and a lot of us shouldn’t do. But at the same time, I hold them to a higher standard. And we do hold them to a higher standard. But that was the first time where I thought if that’s the standard, that kind of sucks."
The Flores family wants an investigation and an explanation. One fact they find especially disturbing is that Trooper Roper had a college law enforcement student riding along to learn from him at the time of the crash.
"Who made that decision? Who put that ride-along with you thinking you would be a good person to shadow for future positions?" Stephanie asked. "We shouldn't have to be here talking about this. But we are. So someone somewhere has to say, I screwed up and this is what we are going to do going forward to fix it."
"To know it could have been anyone’s kid here, because someone just didn’t say, 'Hey man, this is not for you," Carlos said.
Trooper Roper will make his first court appearance on a manslaughter charge is Thursday at 8:30 in Olmsted County.