It is an accident that left a 45-year-old man dead and an 11-month-old boy fighting for his life Wednesday night. Police said it is an accident that never should have happened.

"Witnesses saw a car traveling at a high rate of speed up and down Rocus Street. The car had no plates on it. It was unregistered. It was a racing car, basically," said Springfield Police Sgt. John Delaney.

Just before 6 p.m. Tuesday, Freddy Fuentes, who police said only had one arm, lost control of a blue 1981 Toyota Corrolla and crashed into a parked Chevy Impala. Police say Lourdes Rivera, 22, of Springfield had pulled over on the lightly traveled Rocus Street to change her baby's diaper.

Police say Fuentes used the straight street to get up to 70 miles an hour, then lost control and crashed into the parked car. Fuentes was ejected and killed. Rivera and another woman in the Impala, Elizabeth Perez, 41, were injured. But the infant, Kevin Santiago, police said is in critical condition, suffering from grave head and brain injuries.

Police said Fuentes worked for Miguel's Towing on Rocus Street. There was no one at the facility Wednesday afternoon. Fuentes was "tuning" the Toyota - essentially preparing the car for racing. Local racing experts say tuning a car is nothing to take lightly.

"Any car that's prepared for racing is enhanced as far as the handling of the car, the traction, and the horsepower of the car," said Bill Gendron, owner of Small Fortune Racing Enterprises in Monson.

And that, Gendron said is the key reason why cars need to be raced in a controlled and safe environment, saying, "certainly the street is never the place to be working on a race car, driving a race car or tuning a race car."

Sgt. Delaney said increased patrols have greatly reduced the amount of street racing in the city. Prime areas for racing included Main Street in the North End, as well as Worcester Street in Indian Orchard.

Meanwhile, Springfield Police are now trying to find out more about Freddy Fuentes.