Coddingtown accident victim in critical condition

The man in a wheelchair who was hit Friday by a car near Coddingtown was clinging to life Saturday night.

Santa Rosa Police mistakenly reported Friday evening that the 58-year-old man had died in the hospital following the collision that had occurred before dawn.

But Richard Trenam remained in critical condition on Saturday night in the intensive care unit of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to a nursing supervisor and a hospital spokeswoman.

Sgt. Rich Celli, supervisor of police traffic bureau apologized Saturday for the error. ?I gave out the wrong information yesterday,? he said. ?Essentially we were working off the information we had at the time. It was obviously the wrong information.?

A close friend of Trenam?s said Saturday morning that Trenam lives in the Coddingtown area, off Cleveland Avenue, and that he was on his way to catch the bus when he was hit.

?He was in the wheelchair because of a prior car accident many years ago, and he almost died then,? said the friend, who identified herself only as Lori.

Police said the driver, Antonio Salano Villa, 24, Santa Rosa, was headed home from work in a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse when he struck Trenam in the crosswalk at the intersection of Guerneville Road and Range Avenue. Police said they were uncertain who was at fault.

There were no immediate eyewitnesses who could say which man had the traffic light in his favor.

Villa, whose car license plate was left at the scene, fled home, but later returned with his father, according to authorities.

He voluntarily went to police headquarters for an interview and to provide a blood sample. Police said he was cooperating with the investigation.

Specifics of Trenam?s medical condition were unavailable largely because of confidentiality laws that protect the privacy of patients. Officials also said they were not immediately able to locate relatives of Trenam?s.

Celli said the premature announcement of Trenam?s death was caused by a miscommunication. ?One of our employees relayed it to me. There was miscommunication on our end, or through the hospital and our end,? Celli said.