Friends, co-workers call Forestville woman hit by wrong-way driver 'vibrant,' 'caring'

A nurse practitioner described by friends as “super upbeat,” “caring” and “vibrant” has died after being hit by a suspected DUI driver Sunday on Highway 101, authorities and co-workers said.

Katherine Pisesky, 50, died at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital late Monday afternoon, according to a coworker who was in touch with her family. Pisesky suffered dire injuries, including head trauma, according to authorities.

Friends and co-workers expressed horror and grief for Pisesky and her family, describing her as a caring woman and valued colleague.

Pisesky, originally from Edmonton, Alberta, was heading home around 1 a.m. Sunday after finishing a shift at Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport. She was going south as a wrong-way driver rushed her way up the highway near Healdsburg, the CHP said.

Her 2015 Volkswagen Beetle was struck head-on at high speed by a 2016 Ford Focus, driven by Hector Omar Cisneros-Ramirez, 38, of Healdsburg, CHP said. He’s suspected of being under the influence of drugs.

A southbound pickup also was caught in the collision. CHP did not release Monday further details of the crash or the names of the pickup driver and his two passengers, who suffered minor injuries.

Pisesky was unconscious and trapped by the crumpled wreck of her car. Firefighters cut her free. CHP said Cisneros-Ramirez attempted to avoid arrest after the crash but was taken into custody, checked for injuries and booked into Sonoma County Jail. He remained there Monday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

He’s expected to be arraigned in court Tuesday on a range of charges related to the incident.

CHP said it was alerted to a wrong-way driver just minutes before the collision. A caller reported the driver was in the area of Arata Lane in northern Windsor. Officers attempted to find the driver and then were called to a crash about 3 miles up the highway, near the Central Healdsburg exit.

“A wrong-way driver is rare and when we hear it we fly up to where it’s at,” deRutte said. “We take it very, very seriously.”

Since August of last year, there have been at least three crashes caused by drivers suspected of DUI in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. In two of those crashes, the DUI drivers were charged with murder after people they hit died from their injuries.

“It’s very sad. She was such a vibrant, caring woman. She traveled the world doing her nursing and was an avid diver and adventurer,” longtime Canadian friend Darren Hancock in a written message said about Pisesky. “All her friends from Canada send their deepest regrets and sympathies for the family at this terrible time. She really was a caring woman.”

Surani Kwan, a nurse practitioner who worked with Pisesky, said she was a “super upbeat” and outgoing person who loved her job and took pride in her cats and pug dogs. During a very busy New Year’s Eve for the hospital several years ago, Pisesky left a party she was hosting at her home to come into urgent care and help clear up the patient backlog so all the employees could go home to their families for dinner, Kwan said.

“I will never forget that. She left her party to come help us,” Kwan said. “She was definitely one that would never say no. If you needed help, she would always show up to help you.”

Another coworker, Kathryn Walker, said Pisesky served as her mentor and helped her get a job after she earned her nurse practitioner’s degree.

“The first year of being a nurse practitioner was scary for me, but she was always there,” Walker said. “Any procedures that I was not sure about, she showed me how to do it. She was somebody I could always call.”

Pisesky’s apparent Facebook page shows pictures of travels around the world, and her banner photo shows her standing in front of an elephant in a wooden enclosure. Kwan said Pisesky had traveled to Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique and Malaysia in recent years.

A comment Pisesky posted on the page said she’d been in California since 2007, earning her Master’s degree and then working in health care. She’d been working in the emergency room, intensive care and urgent care at Sutter hospitals in Sonoma and Lake counties since 2011 or 2012, Kwan said.