Santa Rosa sisters rebuild lives after hit-run

Despite the trauma, the pain and the permanent scars, Cruz and Deysi Pineda still manage to smile.

The teenage sisters are recovering from being struck by a speeding, out-of-control truck in January as they waited at a Yulupa Avenue bus stop in Santa Rosa with their father.

Cruz, 13, was the most seriously injured, hospitalized in a coma for several days with severe head injuries. Deysi, 16, lost part of a finger and had several broken bones.

The 35-year-old driver who crashed into them had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving. It was Michael Tweedie’s fourth DUI.

Tweedie pleaded no contest to several felony charges and is scheduled today to be sentenced to as long as 10 years in prison. His attorney has filed a request to postpone the hearing. Prosecutors said when the four-time offender faces the judge they will argue for the maximum term of 12 years and eight months.

The girls, who live in Santa Rosa with their parents and some of their five siblings, have been welcomed back to Slater Middle School and Montgomery High School and are gathering up the pieces of their lives.

In their first interview since the crash, the girls, seated with their father, Asefredo, and brother, Arnulfo, talked about the effect of the incident and their anger at the driver who hit them.

Cruz is quicker with a grin than her older sister, showing the gaps left by front teeth knocked out in the crash. She doesn’t recall much of the crash itself, only waking up in Oakland Children’s Hospital wondering what had happened.

Deysi, the more somber of the two, remembers seeing the careening truck strike a van before it came hurtling toward them.

“I just saw the truck was coming out of control,” said Deysi. “I saw it hit the van ... We tried to run.”

The day had started normally for the family. They were planning to take a bus across town to visit an uncle of the girls who was recovering from health problems. They walked with their father while their pregnant mother stayed home.

The trio arrived at the bus stop at about 9:45 a.m., moments before Tweedie’s flipping, spinning truck slammed into them on the sidewalk.

“We tried running away,” their father said in Spanish, his son translating. “The truck was already on them.”

Tweedie ran from the scene, police said, and was arrested about four hours later.

The family immediately had empathy toward Tweedie, but time — and revelations of Tweedie’s lengthy history of alcohol and drug abuse — have hardened them to his plight.

Deysi said she hasn’t forgiven him. She said a prison sentence can’t make up for the injuries to her and her sister.

“She wants for him to stay in jail so he can pay for the pain she felt in the hospital,” Cruz said, pointing to her older sister.

Behind her easy grin, Cruz also hasn’t forgiven Tweedie, although she said she doesn’t think of him much.

“My friends, they say bad words about him. They say he’s a ... bitch,” she said, searching for the correct English word.

The Pinedas never have seen Tweedie’s face. The first time may come today in court.

Cruz said she may “feel like jumping on him,” making mock fighting motions.

“What is he going to feel when he sees us?” Deysi wondered aloud.

The girls appear outwardly healthy and typically teenage, cell phones at the ready.

Cruz’s principal at Slater, Jason Lea, said her student is melding back in to school life, still part time for now.

“I asked her, ‘What’s new?’ the other day and she said, ‘My life is new,’” he said. “She has a pretty good sense of self.”

Friends, co-workers, school employees and people who didn’t even know the Pinedas were inspired to set up a trust fund at Exchange Bank to help with continuing medical expenses that have reached well into six figures.

“The family is incredibly thankful to the community,” said their attorney, Bob Bone. He said the fund includes “more than a few thousand dollars” and helps cover some expenses not covered by the family’s own insurance.

“Cruz still needs surgery, including dental reconstruction,” he said.

Cruz’s long dark hair was roughly cut by emergency medical workers. She has visible scars on her right temple, her lower lip and a 2-inch-long line on her neck where doctors performed a tracheotomy.

She continues to recover from back and head injuries, and monitoring will continue this year for neurological damage.

“I feel the same. Not my body,” Cruz said, with a shy smile.

“Anything she does now, she has to be careful,” Deysi said of her sister. “That makes her mad.”

Lea said Cruz is open about her injuries with curious schoolmates.

“She’s a self-confident, strong young woman, for sure,” he said. “Cruz has definitely got a huge spirit.”

Although still dealing with the scars, Cruz remains easy-going, her brother said, and still loves pizza and soccer.

Deysi’s injured left little finger is her most noticeable reminder of the crash. It’s thinner and shorter than her right one, the tip too damaged to repair. She’s lost feeling in the finger.

Listening to his daughters tell their story, Asefredo Pineda can’t fathom Tweedie’s choices.

“He was old enough to know better, old enough to be responsible,” the elder Pineda said. “If he knew he wasn’t going to be able to control himself, why did he drive?”

Tweedie’s attorney, Martin Woods, declined to comment on behalf of his client. At the time of his plea, Tweedie, through his attorney, said he accepted responsibility for what happened and was remorseful.

Despite the damage Tweedie caused, Asefredo Pineda remains remarkably magnanimous.

“Tengo corazon,” he said in Spanish, “I have a heart.”

“He (Tweedie) also has a family,” Asefredo Pineda said.

The father, however, has filed a lawsuit against Tweedie, alleging negligent infliction of emotional distress. Other civil action may follow on behalf of his daughters.

Arnulfo Pineda, 19, who works in a restaurant as does his father, said 10 years isn’t enough punishment for Tweedie.

“When this guy gets out, he’s going to start doing this stuff again,” he said. “We don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.