Two Maria Carrillo students who were struck in a crosswalk on Calistoga Road on Wednesday evening were expected to recover from their injuries, though one remained in critical condition a day later, police and school officials said.
Leopoldo Jorge, 15, remained in Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit Thursday but did not appear to have life-threatening injuries, Maria Carrillo High School Principal Mark Klick said.
"The good news is that this young man made it through the night, and that's good news - promising anyway," said police Sgt. Doug Schlief.
The other student, Alexandra Fleury, 14, was released from Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she was treated in the emergency room, police said.
She was expected to return to school soon, Klick said.
The pair had just left the Rincon Valley library a short distance from school and were on their way to a Safeway grocery store at the St. Francis Shopping Center on Highway 12 when they crossed Calistoga Road and were struck in the crosswalk at 6:06 p.m., police said.
They were crossing west-to-east at Marit Drive and had just entered the southbound lane when they were hit by an oncoming SUV driven by Sebastopol resident Almir S. Da Fonseca, police Sgt. Doug Schlief said.
Da Fonseca, 49, a chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, said the teens stepped in front of his car before he could react - an account he said was confirmed by at least one witness.
"It's a sad thing to go through, and very stressful," Da Fonseca said.
He declined to speak about the incident any further.
Schlief said he could not confirm Da Fonseca's account, but noted that it was dusk, a difficult time of day for visibility.
"You have different witnesses with different perspectives, so we look at all of those," Schlief said. "We also will do some calculations on time and speed and distance, and all of that stuff.
"We have witnesses that say they did see the kids walking off the curb into the crosswalk, and we have others that saw them when they were already in the crosswalk, off the curb. Where the vehicle was in relation to them at that time is what we're trying to determine."
Though a working street light stands on the west side of the crosswalk it wasn't clear if it had come on yet, Schlief said.
The streetlights are activated by sensors, and though sunset was at 5:43 p.m. Wednesday, there remained some lingering light, he said.
There also was a report from one witness who believed the streetlight was not illuminated at the time of the collision, though it had come on by the time police began investigating, Schlief said.
Schlief said there were several witnesses, none of whom identified excessive vehicle speed as a problem.
Police also do not believe alcohol or drugs were involved, and checked Da Fonseca's phone log in their attempt to rule out potential distractions like cell phone use, texting, the car radio and cigarettes.
"The driver was very cooperative with the investigation and is ... pretty upset," Schlief said.
The crosswalk, adjacent to a Santa Rosa fire station, is nearly the same location in which a Maria Carrillo student was struck when he rammed his bike into a fire engine that was backing into the driveway on Nov. 12.
That student, Sean Kim, 15, was riding north in the southbound bike lane when he struck the engine for unknown reasons. His injuries were not severe, authorities said.
Wednesday's incident also comes amid a flurry of crosswalk incidents, including two fatalities in Santa Rosa and one in St. Helena.
Fleury and Leopold were struck exactly three weeks after a Santa Rosa High School sophomore, Michelle Cordova, was fatally injured as she crossed West College Avenue at Link Lane after a run.
She also was struck at dusk.
In another case, a 50-year-old man was killed as he crossed Highway 12 in a crosswalk at Jack London Drive around 11:30 p.m. Dec. 30.
An 82-year-old woman, Elsie "Alice" Stefani, died as she crossed St. Helena's Main Street in a crosswalk around dusk on Jan. 29.
Klick said he was notified of the accident shortly afterward and alerted his staff Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
An announcement was made to the student body, but the students handled the news well, he said.
"I'm very thankful that it wasn't worse, and it gives us an opportunity to remind students to be careful out there," Klick said. "Just because you're in a crosswalk doesn't mean there's a magical wall surrounding you. You have to be aware and present, and know what's going on around you, especially in this day and age of Walkmen and Ipods and cell phones. You can't just step out into the street."
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