Healdsburg High grad Andrew Esquivel killed in New York City crash

Friends and family were reeling Monday over the death of a popular Healdsburg High School graduate and Eagle Scout who was killed in New York City over the weekend by an off-duty police officer accused of drunken-driving.

Andrew “Drew” Esquivel, 21, was killed early Saturday as he walked with three friends along a residential street in Brooklyn. Esquivel was attending MIT on a full scholarship and was an intern at a software engineering firm in New York.

He and his group emerged from the Bedford Avenue subway station at about 3 a.m. when they were hit by a Dodge Durango SUV driven by the 28-year-old officer, Nicholas Batka, according to published reports.

Batka is charged with manslaughter and has been suspended from duty, the reports said.

Word of Esquivel's death spread quickly through the small community, with people expressing shock and sadness in downtown shops and social media.

“It's just devastating,” said Scott Weidemier, Esquivel's wrestling coach at Healdsburg High School, who remained close to him after he graduated in 2013. “He was obviously bright as can be. He just had the whole world in front of him.”

Esquivel leaves behind his parents, Andy and Sue, as well as two younger sisters, Elizabeth and Emma. The family declined through their church pastor to comment.

His father owns an insurance agency and is president of a Healdsburg youth wrestling club.

By all accounts, Drew Esquivel was a high achiever who excelled in math and science but also demonstrated a gift for drama and athletics. He started various campus organizations including the Interact Club and the Young Republicans.

A straight-A student, he was accepted at Cornell, Princeton and Stanford and was a recipient of the prestigious James Family Foundation Scholarship.

At MIT, he majored in computer science and had several internships. Esquivel also was captain of the school's wrestling team. He was set to graduate next year.

Esquivel's best friend and fellow high school wrestler, Dominic Merlo, said Esquivel was “nothing short of one of the greatest people I have ever known.”

Merlo, who last texted Esquivel Friday, said his friend was interested in taking a job with a software firm in Austin, Texas when he graduated.

“He was so intelligent and so far past anyone I knew, but was still a real person and able to connect with people on a one-on-one level,” Merlo said. “He was a great guy.”

He learned of Esquivel's death just hours after it happened through a message from Esquivel's cousin on the East Coast. When he and friends went to the family home to confirm what happened, they discovered the family was on an annual backpacking trip in the Trinity Alps wilderness until Monday.

That touched off a frantic effort to contact them that included getting in touch with forest rangers, Merlo said.

“I tried calling them,” Merlo said. “They didn't have service. I put two and two together that they didn't know yet.”

Eventually someone, likely a family friend, hiked out to the family's encampment Sunday, Merlo and Weidemier said.

The news fell hard on Brent Mortensen, a Healdsburg High School English and drama teacher who had Esquivel in his classes and plays. Mortensen said he learned of the tragedy through Merlo and people spoke of it in lines at the post office and grocery store.

“I can't talk about it without crying, Mortensen said.

He said Esquivel was one of his favorite students in 30 years of teaching, not just because of his grades but his willingness to help others. And despite a life trajectory that promised to take him far from his roots, he stayed in touch with friends including old teachers, Mortensen said.

Esquivel visited a few months back to share his experiences at MIT and a trip he took to Spain, his teacher said.

“They all say they are going to come back and see you,” Mortensen said. “The really cool thing about him was he did.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.