Johnson: Problems pile up in wake of tragedy

By Bill Johnson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 19, 2006 at midnight

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If any man deserved a good cry right now, it would be Daniel Perez. Truth is, he just could not fight it off.

From all around him rose the cries of his three young daughters, all of them broken badly in some way, the baby shrieking without words from her wheelchair for her father to forget right now the stranger and come comfort her.

He is 31 years old, a forklift operator by trade. Never, he said softly, did he figure his life would turn out this way.

He speaks reluctantly of April 5, the day his life crashed in on him, beginning when his wife, Domini, 28, uncharacteristically failed to pick him up from work. He begged a ride home from a co-worker, and then a Fort Morgan police officer knocked on his door.

"He was gentle but so matter-of-fact - the way he told me there had been an accident, that it was pretty bad, that I needed to get dressed and to go with him," Daniel Perez recounted.

He remembers vividly now what he saw when he got to the emergency room.

"I remember seeing my wife and my daughters lying there, full of grass and dirt from the road, all of them lying on stretchers, waiting to be flown to Denver.

"I pretty much fell to my knees and started crying."

Domini, as best as he can figure out, had loaded up their daughters and a neighbor girl for a quick run to McDonald's.

She had just made it onto the on-ramp of Interstate 76 when the car rolled, flinging her out.

When the car came to rest, Alisha, 8, had suffered broken ribs, a badly splintered ankle and other broken bones. Esperanza, 6, lay with a badly sprained ankle, broken ribs and a bruised lung.

The baby, Mia, 3, was rushed by helicopter to Children's Hospital in Denver, where doctors inserted pins and plates in an attempt to save her shattered hip.

They also flew the girls' mother, Domini, to Denver Health. She died a short time later.

Fort Morgan police would later determine that the woman was going too fast for the turn onto the highway, that the vehicle rolled after she overcorrected.

"The neighbor girl said she had earlier been fussing with the steering wheel, so maybe it could have been a steering problem," Daniel Perez said, as the girls cry around him.

"And you know, the (neighbor) girl was the only one in the car wearing a seat belt. That's what I don't understand. My wife and kids always wore seat belts. It was the rule. So I don't know what happened that day."

The neighbor girl, perhaps you should know, was not hurt at all.

Daniel Perez has not returned to work since the accident. He simply cannot. Mia and Esperanza are in wheelchairs.

"I start work at 5:30 a.m., and I cannot leave them home by themselves," Daniel Perez said.

His boss and members of his union took up a collection to help him pay bills while he is out, but that is almost all gone.

The town paid last month's rent for him. The police chief picked up the water bill. Others have chipped in with food.

Linda Gabriel, of Aurora, Daniel Perez's mother, has done everything she can, her son said.

"I think the biggest message here is the need for compassion, even though the mother did a wrong thing by not belting in her children," Linda Gabriel said.

With no other family in Fort Morgan, Daniel Perez cares for the girls as best as he can.

"I take it day by day," Daniel Perez said. "I don't know what will happen tomorrow or even this afternoon. I'm just trying to take care of my kids, keep them safe and clean. My hands are full."

His boss is keeping his job open for him.

"He said to walk in when I'm ready."

Bills are mounting. How he will pay next month's rent, he doesn't know. What other bills there might be, well, Domini used to handle it all.

In the meantime, he works hard simply to comfort the girls. He rises early. He sponge- bathes Mia and Esperanza. He gives them their medicines. He prepares breakfast.

"I hold the baby most of the day and just look into space. The baby won't let me put her down, even for a second. I can't take a shower without her screaming to come with me.

"We all have our episodes where we start crying. It's really upsetting. It's really, really hard."

Every day, the girls ask for their mother, Daniel Perez said.

"I just tell them that Momma lives on in our hearts, that she can hear us, even if we can't see her, that she's up in heaven with God. They're beginning, I think, to understand.

"The 6-year-old, though, the other day told me she wants to die so she can go to heaven and be with Mommy. It was so totally beyond me. It was so hard to deal with."

He becomes silent before softly beginning to weep.

He rocks the baby, composes himself and says, "I have to do this. I have no choice."

Contributions to the Perez family may be made to the Domini Killsnight Memorial Fund at any US Bank.

Bill Johnson's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Call him at 303-892-2763 or e-mail him at johnsonw@RockyMountainNews.com.

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