GoFundMe page started for Santa Rosa woman badly hurt in crash with San Francisco firefighter

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay medical bills for a Santa Rosa woman badly injured in a two-car crash last week that killed a San Francisco firefighter.

CHP officials said the early morning collision on Dec. 12 occurred when Steven William Pacatte tried to pass a garbage truck in foggy conditions on Occidental Road, hitting Digna Torres head-on.

Torres' husband, Gerardo Torres, said his wife was on her way to work at the Manzana Products apple cannery when the crash occurred.

“She went to work like she did every day, but she never got there,” Torres said of his wife, who's a native of Oaxaca, Mexico and now a Santa Rosa resident. “Nobody's prepared for something like this. We need a lot of help.”

Torres said his wife is still in Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, but slowly recuperating. A hospital spokeswoman said her condition was fair. Torres said members of the couple's church, the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal M.I., started the GoFundMe page while he was in the hospital at his wife's side.

“We've never lived through anything like this, so we didn't know what to do or what steps to take,” he said.

The fundraising site for Torres said money donated will “supplement her expenses and assist her family with any upcoming expenses and challenges she will face during her recovery.”

Torres expressed sympathy for Pacatte's family, saying he understands how difficult it is for them and he wishes them the best.

“I'm very sorry, truthfully, very sorry for what happened to the other family,” he said. “May God give them the strength to move forward in this moment, because it's not an easy thing.”

A GoFundMe page also was started to support Pacatte's fiancee, who is pregnant. As of Thursday night, Pacatte's page listed $103,000 in donations, while Torres' raised more than $7,800 so far.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Beale at 707-521-5205 or andrew.beale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @iambeale.