Five people with Pepperdine ties struck in head-on collision with drunken driver; Sister of senior Erin Calderon dies .
By JJ Bowman
Associate Editor
More than 1,000 people crowded the Agoura Hills High School gymnasium Wednesday to mourn the loss of a teenager who was killed Saturday morning by a 19-year-old driving with a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit.
Kim Kimble-Gast, sister of Seaver College senior Erin Calderon, died in Santa Barbara hours after a minivan driven by Oaks Christian junior Michael Rivas was hit head-on by a sedan. Kim was 15-years old.
“I love her so much, that separated I am incomplete,” Calderon said at the service.
Calderon’s mother died unexpectedly just six weeks ago. Since their mother’s death, Kim had been living with broadcast journalism professor Dr. Michael Murrie and his wife, Jackie. The Murries were in the process of adopting Kim.
Jackie Murrie said the community response to Kim’s death has been incredible.
“It’s all enveloping,” she said. “There has been a real strong cushion of support.”
Kim was an active member of Agoura Hills High School, especially as captain of the junior varsity cheerleading squad.
More than 50 cheerleaders sat together in the front of the gymnasium — some on each other’s laps because space was so limited — and showed solidarity by wearing their warm-up jackets and blue ribbons in their hair.
Calderon told the girls how important the squad was to Kim, and exhorted them to cheer as best they can, just as their captain would have wanted.
Others who spoke at the service noted Kim’s passion for life and vivacious spirit, but her friend Holly Brandy assured that the young teen had just as much passion for her Christian faith.
“I give Kim all the credit (for me becoming a Christian),” Holly said. “She confronted me about God.”
It was that Christian spirit that took her from an Oaks Christian football game Friday night, toward the Pismo area for a church youth group retreat.
She left with Michael, his father, Michael G. Rivas, Sarah Mitchell and Taylor Hardman after Michael scored a touchdown in the game against Village Christian.
Everyone in their van had ties to Pepperdine.
The elder Rivas taught at Pepperdine up until last year, and his wife, Darlene is a professor of humanities. Sarah’s parents, Cary and Sharon Mitchell, teach at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
Taylor Hardman is the son of Stu Hardman, vice president for advancement and public affairs, and Mary Jo Hardman, administrative receptionist at the Center for Human Resources.
The high school students and the elder Rivas were traveling northbound on the 101 freeway in a remote area past Santa Barbara. North of the accident scene, Angel Martinez, an unlicensed Mexican national with open beer cans strewn about his car, made a left onto the freeway.
Instead of passing the center-divider lane and entering the 101 freeway south, Martinez — who toxicology reports stated had a blood-alcohol level of .24 — and the two others in his car began driving a collision course. Motorists called 911 almost immediately, said Officer Don Clotworthy, a public information officer at the California Highway Patrol in Goleta.
Units were dispatched to warn northbound drivers of impending danger and to notify the driver that he was on the wrong side of the road, but Clotworthy said officers frequently don’t have enough time to ward off disaster.
Martinez’s car struck a glancing blow to the left-rear side of a Chevrolet Malibu, forcing it to spin out onto the shoulder. His Mercury continued on and almost instantaneously struck the Dodge Caravan head-on.
“We’re talking a couple blinks of the eye, maybe,” Clotworthy said of the time Rivas had to react. Anyone in Rivas’ situation, he continued, would have been unable to avoid the accident.
“There was nothing this young man really could have done,” Clotworthy said. “It was just happenstance.”
The effects of the crash smashed the front ends of both vehicles.
“The impact is just unbelievable,” Clotworthy said. “And devastating.”
He continued that investigators were unable to determine how fast either car was traveling, but even if they were both driving the speed limit, the closing speed between the vehicles would have been 120 mph.
Rivas and his father were extricated from the vehicle with the Jaws of Life, Clotworthy said.
One of Martinez’s passengers, 19-year-old Jose Luis Hernandez, was pronounced dead at the scene. Martinez also died, but the third passenger, Miguel Garcia, 31, survived with a fractured femur. Authorities had not interrogated Garcia as of Wednesday.
Kim was taken to the hospital with massive trauma. She was pronounced dead later Saturday afternoon. Sgt. Chris Pappas of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said she died of multiple blunt impact trauma from the crash.
The younger Rivas needed his spleen removed, lost his left leg below the knee and broke his pelvis. His right foot was re-attached, and Associate Dean Rick Marrs, who continuously updated Seaver faculty throughout the week, said doctors were confident Rivas would be able to walk with a prosthetic leg.
However, “it’ll be a long, slow, painful process,” Marrs said.
He remained in intensive care through Tuesday, but will be transferred to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills once he is ready.
Hardman was released Monday, Marrs said, and the elder Rivas was discharged from the hospital Sunday with scrapes and bruises.
Mitchell had bruises from her seatbelt, but was the least injured, Clotworthy said.
Despite the distance between Malibu and the hospital in Santa Barbara, scores of the victims’ friends arrived at the hospital to pray and comfort the family.
Seaver College undergrad Janet Lowrey, whose sister was on the youth retreat, went to the hospital to offer support.
“People were experiencing deep, deep emotion, but were thankful to be sharing the emotions together as a church community,” she said.
Conejo Valley Church of Christ minister, Pepperdine alumnus Andy Wall, prayed with everyone in the chapel.
“There was a lot of tears,” communication professor Dr. John Jones said. “But there was also a really strong faith that was expressed.”
Nurses then came in to explain Kim’s grave condition. Two by two, friends could visit Kim, who was in a coma, and say goodbye.
Her older sister learned of the accident at 8:30 a.m. Saturday while she was at Pepperdine’s campus ministry retreat in Valencia. At 9 a.m., Jones, who was also attending the retreat, took Calderon and her husband Dennis on the two-hour drive to the hospital.
“She was preparing for the worst and at the same time praying for a miracle,” Jones said.
She sat in the backseat of the car as her husband comforted her.
“Dennis was just amazing,” Jones said.
Since the accident, the community has rallied around Kim’s family and the Rivases.
“Whatever needed to be done, people were there to do it,” Lowrey said.
Murrie echoed the sentiment that members of the community have offered help. On Tuesday morning, students, faculty and staff prayed with Murrie in the Center for Communication and Business.
“Students were just so expressive,” he said. “And I appreciated that.”
Members of the community have also rallied around Michael, who has shown considerable spirit considering his injuries.
“He’s already focusing on the future,” Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Mark Davis said. Davis’ son is friends with Michael and also visited him in Santa Barbara.
Officer Clotworthy said officers on the scene were thankful Michael even survived the crash.
“He’s going to be a survivor,” Clotworthy said.
Michael was well enough Monday to sing “Happy Birthday” to his mother.
Michael has “incredible physical strength (and) strength of character,” Davis said.
Despite the emotion of the past few days, the community still has a long road ahead.
“We’re trusting in God and not ourselves right now,” Jones said.
September 25, 2003