‘Fighting for her life’: Family seeks help for woman injured in deadly 12-car crash
A 25-year-old newly married woman suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 12-vehicle crash that resulted in two deaths, according to an online fundraiser for her.
A GoFundMe page for Vanessa Lainez, whom police reported was in critical condition after the collision, said the woman was, “fighting for her life” in a hospital as of Monday. The crash occurred near West Cheyenne Avenue and North Jones Boulevard on Tuesday.
Lainez was a passenger in a Nissan Altima, which, according to police, Jose Gutierrez rear-ended when he crashed into approximately a dozen vehicles halted at the red light.
The Altima was then catapulted over the median and into the intersection, police said. Its driver, Jose Pena-Dominguez, was also critically injured and suffered a lacerated liver.
“Vanessa Lainez’s life changed forever … A reckless driver struck their car, leaving Vanessa in critical condition with multiple injuries, the most serious being a traumatic brain injury,” fundraiser organizer Manuel Lainez said. “She is now fighting for her life in the hospital, surrounded by her devastated family who are doing everything they can to support her recovery.”
“Our family’s world has been turned upside down, and we are holding onto hope and faith for her recovery,” Manuel Lainez also said.
Gutierrez, 19, was arrested after the crash. His pregnant girlfriend, Adilene Duran Rincon, 20, and a driver from another vehicle, Edward Garcia, 38, died at the scene.
The GoFundMe also said that Vanessa Lainez was married nine months ago and her husband has been waiting by her side, “praying for the moment she opens her eyes.”
Marisol Ortiz, a manager at the local restaurant, Shang Artisan Noodle, said that Vanessa Lainez is a server there.
“We’re just trying to stay positive and keep praying,” Ortiz said during a phone call interview. “At the restaurant, we’re all like family. This impacts us hard.”
“We’re all in shock, her family and her coworkers,” Ortiz also said. “You don’t expect something like this to happen to someone you’re close to. It’s life or death.”
Some of the restaurant’s staff, along with the Lainez family, are Christian and have been “waiting for a miracle,” the manager said.
All of the donations collected will go toward Vanessa Lainez’s medical care, according to the GoFundMe page. Within about a day, the fundraiser had raised $16,000 of its $28,000 goal.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
