OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) - Loved ones are keeping vigil after a young father was critically injured in Oceanside by a suspected drunk driver in a motorcycle crash.
“Emotionally, I’m just hanging on by a string, because it’s just a waiting game with him,” said a tearful Christina Cardenas.
For a mom and dad, it’s been an agonizing wait.
“Praying every minute I can,” said Travis Snook.
On Monday night, just after 6 p.m., 23-year-old Nick Cardenas was on his motorcycle, headed to his Bonsall home.
Near state Route 76 and Benet Road, police say a car reportedly ran a red light, colliding with the motorcycle.
Nick was thrown off his bike. A witness says his helmet flew off after he was ejected, which left his head vulnerable.
Cardenas, Nick’s mother, says her son suffered countless broken bones, but it's the brain trauma that's left him in a coma and fighting for his life.
“They don't think he’s going to be waking up anytime soon, if he wakes up at all,” said Cardenas.
Cardenas says Nick who works in construction, is a doting father to a 3-year-old girl.
“Don't know what to do with yourself. Every minute, I think of him,” said Snook, Nick’s father.
Loved ones also absorb a startling development in the case. The driver, 67-year-old Robert Shuey of San Clemente, who was arrested on suspicion of DUI, was found unresponsive in his cell a day later and died.
“I mean, it’s sad,” said Snook.
The investigation into the death is ongoing.
“At first I was really angry. Just felt like, how is my son going to get justice? Now I just have no feeling about it,” said Cardenas.
She says her emotions, and focus, remain on her son.
“We all just want him to wake up and come home,” said Cardenas.
When it comes to drunk driving, family members are making pleas.
“Please don’t do it. You can ruin so many lives with a dumb decision,” said Cardenas.
A Gofundme campaign has been set up to help the family with medical and other expenses.
Meanwhile, Shuey is the second person to die in local jail custody this year. Police and deputies say he was cleared by a hospital before he was booked into jail.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact Oceanside PD Investigator Kevin Lissner at 760-435-4651 or email KLissner@oceansideca.org.
