A Grandview man is recovering after a head-on crash on Interstate 82 that killed two foster care children in his car and left a third injured.
Maurilio "Danny" Trejo, 23, was taking the three kids to a supervised visit with their parents as part of his job when a wrong-way driver slammed into his car, said a friend of his.
A 6-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl were killed.
Their 5-year-old sister was injured and taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, along with Trejo.
He's since been released from intensive care unit following abdominal surgery but still has casts on both hands and wrists, said his friend and classmate Jeremy Allgaier.
Allgaier has set up a GoFundMe for Trejo, who is studying to become an X-ray technician.
"His injuries are severe enough that it will likely set him back in his timelines to graduate with his class," Allgaier wrote on the GoFundMe page. "He needs to pay his medical bills, replace his phone and laptop and have money to sustain him through his recovery."
Trejo was driving a Nissan Altima east on the interstate shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday when his car was hit by a Ford Mustang, said the Washington State Patrol.
State investigators believe Keith A. Goings, 20, of Springfield, Mo., was intoxicated when he entered the four-lane divided highway headed the wrong way at Sunnyside.
About an hour earlier, a WSP trooper reported seeing the Mustang driving 111 mph near Ellensburg but the driver refused to pull over.
Goings also was injured in the crash and taken to Harborview but his condition was not immediately available. Criminal charges are pending, said the WSP.
A separate fundraiser has been organized by Ashley Scribner, a family friend of the children killed in the crash.
"On the night of Feb. 28th, she received the phone call no mother wants to get. Two of her beautiful babies were killed in a car wreck," Scribner wrote. "... We would love to be able to give them the funeral they deserve."
So far, the fundraiser at bit.ly/GrandviewFuneral had brought in a little more than $13,000 by Friday.
The GoFundMe campaign for Trejo had raised nearly $8,500.
Allgaier reported on the donor site at bit.ly/TrejoMedical that he was able to visit the hospital on Thursday, and said Trejo was in good spirits.
"If you know Danny, you know he is a stubborn fighter and has a positive attitude in life that makes everyone around him better," Allgaier said in his update. "He's still in quite a bit of pain from his surgery but is working hard to do the right things to get himself out of the hospital as soon as realistically possible."
