Teen accident victim not expected to live

Scott Santana, a Union Mine High School scholar and athlete, was gravely injured in a head-on collision at about 3 p.m.Tuesday on Greenstone Road near El Dorado. The 17-year-old suffered extreme trauma as a result of the accident and remained on life support and in critical condition as of Thursday.

Late Thursday morning, the Mountain Democrat received the following communique from Carrie Poggio, public information officer at Marshall Hospital:

"Scott's parents have authorized me to make the following statement:

"Scott Santana is in critical condition and is not expected to survive. His parents are in the process of arranging organ donation, so that life can come of this tragedy. Please keep Scott and his family in your prayers."

California Highway Patrol officer Phillip McCain told the Democrat that the young man was "still on a ventilator as of Wednesday night, and the family was considering organ donations."

Union Mine Principal Tony DeVille described an emotional gathering at a vigil held at the school Wednesday night.

"There were lots of parents and kids talking and sharing memories of Scott. Some of them knew him from grammar school, and there were even some of his grammar school teachers here. He's a very good student, in AP classes, and he ran cross country. They're a good family and they've been here a long time.

"Approximately 300 people attended, and it was a nice mix of adults and students as well as many of Scott's family members including father and grandfather, Rich Santana Jr. and Sr. Scott's youth pastor, Matt Molinari, led a brief prayer to start the vigil. And although we started during daylight, it became a candlelight vigil, and many people stayed later into the evening," DeVille wrote in an e-mail to the Democrat Thursday.

Union Mine staff counselors, psychologists and counselors from the high school district and county mental health professionals were on the school campus all day Wednesday offering grief counseling. Thursday morning, DeVille said that his on-site counseling staff would continue to provide services to the school family.

E-mail Chris Daley at cdaley@mtdemocrat.net or call 530-344-5063.

Chris Daley

Chris has written a weekly column for the Democrat for more than 20 years and has Master’s Degrees in Russian History, Psychology and Career Counseling. He has been a staff writer for a number of years and enjoys it because he "learns so much about so many things."

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