Police still looking for other involved driver
Morgan Hill – The Morgan Hill man seriously injured in a high-speed car racing accident last Sunday morning remains in a comma at Valley Medical Center as his family waits for his recovery with prayers and support from the community.
His parents say David Schindler, 20, wishes he would have been the one driving the Ford Mustang that day instead of his twin, Nicholas, whom police and witnesses say was zooming down Butterfield Boulevard at speeds of 90 to 100 mph. The Mustang is said to have collided with the median’s curb.
Nicholas, known to friends and family as Nick, was ejected from the vehicle. He was not wearing a seat belt.
The twins’ parents say David asks himself about their shared Mustang, “Why did I give him the car that day? Why was it Nick and not me?”
David also has difficulty dealing with the fact that something so bad happened to someone so close, his twin brother.
“He is a good person,” David said. “He never drank or smoked. Why him?”
Carl Schindler, the twins’ father, said he realizes his son made a mistake. He accepts responsibility on his son’s behalf for the accident.
“Nick was as much at fault as anybody else,” he said. “We’re not wringing our hands saying someone did this to our poor boy. We know he made a poor decision. His eyes were wide open, but his brain was locked.”
As the family tries to cope with Nick’s life-threatening injuries, police authorities are on the hunt for an SUV believed to have been involved in the rollover accident.
According to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. Joe Sampson, police are looking for a 2002-03 Chevy Tahoe, possibly metallic or sand or silver in color. A description of the driver is not available because the windows were reportedly darkly tinted.
Sampson said witnesses have indicated the SUV was racing northbound on Butterfield Boulevard with Schindler’s Mustang.
The SUV reportedly moved into the path of the Mustang, forcing Schindler to swerve left into the median. The Mustang went airborne, according to reports, slammed through five elm trees in the median and came to rest on its side against another tree.
Schindler was ejected through a window, landing approximately 20 feet from the Mustang in the southbound lanes of Butterfield. He remains in critical condition with major head injuries.
No charges have been filed in the accident, Sampson said. If police locate the SUV’s driver, officers would need to complete the investigation before pressing charges and making an arrest.
If Schindler does not recover, a manslaughter charge is a possibility.
“We’re not after revenge, we’re not vindictive, but we just want this person to be accountable,” Carl Schindler said about the driver of the SUV. “We understand the racing, don’t condone it, but understand. We’ve all done stupid things, but leaving the scene of an accident, no; this person needs to stand up and be a man or woman. They had to have seen what happened, maybe in the rear-view mirror. Instead of stopping, they left the scene.”
California vehicle code requires drivers involved in an accident to stop at the scene or close by if the cars are blocking the road and there are no major injuries.
Nicholas’ parents understand that the person driving the SUV must have been scared, and possibly that’s why he or she left the scene.
“I can imagine what kind of hell (that person) must be going through,” said Teri Schindler. “They must feel just horrible, the guilt, sadness. And scared. I’m sure he must have just panicked.”
The parents are not surprised by Nick’s decision to race, despite the family’s assertions that they spoke to their children about the importance of safe driving.
“He is impulsive, reactive, having to learn a lot through the school of hard knocks,” Carl Schindler said. “But there’s so much good about him, in him.”
The Schindlers explained that Nick and David, and their younger brother Michael, who is now in the Air Force, had a difficult time in their “former family.” They are Terry’s half sister’s children. The three boys were adopted by the Schindlers when the twins were 16 and Michael was 14.
David and Nick graduated from Live Oak High School in 2003 and share a dorm room at California State University-Monterey Bay, where they would be seniors in the fall.
Brett Paolucci, Live Oak High’s basketball coach, remembers Nick when he played on the team in his senior year.
“He was a really good player, a good person,” he said. “He and his brother live and breathe basketball, always come back for our alumni game in November. I hope he is able to come to many more of them.”
Nick is said to have been excited about his summer job as a counselor for the YMCA and his part-time work at Lowe’s.
Sampson said anyone with information about the accident, the SUV or its driver is asked to contact MHPD Officer Steve Pennington at 779-2101.
