Benician hospitalized June 21

Friends say the 23-year-old victim of a hit-and-run accident remains in critical condition in a medically induced coma, and he and his family need the help a pair of local fundraisers starting Wednesday and an online drive may bring.

Louis Miguel Torres was struck about 2:08 a.m. June 21 when he was in the intersection of East Fifth Street and Military East. Family members and investigators said he was walking home after working security at Rookies Sports Bar and stopping by Bottom of the Fifth that was along the way.

The motorist did not stop, and instead continued west on Military East, Benicia police Lt. Mike Greene said. Torres was rushed by ambulance to John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek.

A 24-year-old Benicia man, identified by police as Erik Knight, surrendered Saturday to detectives in front of the Benicia police station after the department secured a $100,000 warrant for his arrest. Knight has been charged with felony hit and run and has been taken to Solano County Jail in Fairfield.

Mindy del Toro, a Torres family friend, said she and Torres’s sister, Lillianna Torres, grew up together in Benicia. She said Lillianna has been staying at John Muir Medical Center around the clock, “hoping and praying for a miracle for her 23-year-old brother.”

She continued, “Benicia is such a tight-knit community, and I am hopeful that we will all stick together in this time and support this young man and his family. What a horrible tragedy this has been.”

Wednesday’s fundraiser takes place at Rookies, 321 First St. The company will donate 20 percent of day and night proceeds to Torres and his family. Rookies is open from 11 a.m. to midnight.

Bottom of the Fifth, 498 Military East, is donating 20 percent of Thursday’s day and night food and beverage sales to Torres and his family. Doors open at 6 a.m. remain open until 2 a.m. Friday.

In addition, family members have created a Go Fund Me site where donations can be made to Torres’s medical fund and subsequent rehabilitation expenses.

“My brother is in critical condition and in a deep, medically induced coma,” Lillianna Torres, 25, said. “He will finally receive a CAT scan to determine brain damage.”

She said the scan was delayed a week to let his internal cranial pressure stabilize.

“The results will help the family move forward with the next step,” she said.

“It is important to our family that the community remain hopeful and positive for Louis, rather than putting their energy towards anger at the individual responsible,” Lillianna said. “The fundraisers this week are focused on collaboration and community, not confrontation. My brother wouldn’t want it any other way.”

She said she will attend both fundraisers, and will be available if people want to talk abut her brother.

“We are incredibly thankful and humbled by the emotional and financial support my brother has received, and are thankful to the Benicia Police Department for their dedicated work,” she said.

The Go Fund Me account has a goal of $10,000, and by Tuesday it had received $6,777.

On the page is a photograph of Torres and a description by his sister, who calls him “a son, grandson, brother and friend who touches everyone with this fiery spirit and rascally humor.”

She also calls him “handsome and talented,” and said he is “proud of his Italian and Latino roots.”

Torres, who had been working several months as door security at Rookies, is an aspiring screenplay writer, and had been trying to transfer to San Francisco State University to study creative writing, film and media, his sister said.

His poem, “Never Give Up On Your Dreams,” earned the writer an award last semester, she said. His sister has posted the poem on the Go Fund Me page.

Lillianna said Torres initially didn’t look badly injured. Though he had trauma to his head and some scrapes to his knees and forearms, he was speaking and responding to questions.

However, the next day, his brain began to swell and he suffered a seizure.

She said doctors tried to prepare the family “for the worst.” But she called her brother a fighter, and said the family has been buoyed by visits from friends from Chico to Texas and Tennessee. “We have been heartened by the love and support for Louis,” she said.

The Louis Torres Go Fund Me page can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/xu3sag.