Published October 20, 2005
DAVIS HIGH GRAD DIES IN BORDER CAR WRECK
RINER, 21, MODESTO FRIENDS IN TAXI THAT HIT HORSE ON MEXICAN HIGHWAY
By    CHRISTINA SALERNO, BEE STAFF WRITER

A 21-year-old Davis High School graduate died in Rosarito, Mexico, when a taxi he was riding in struck a horse on a highway.

Patrick Riner, who moved from Modesto to San Diego in September, was headed to the Mexican beach town Saturday for a night out with four friends visiting from Modesto and his girlfriend, Tamara Mena-Perez, a 2003 Davis High graduate.

Mena-Perez was injured in the accident and is at UC San Diego Medical Center, where a nurse listed her in fair condition. The other four escaped serious injury.

The accident occurred around 9:30 p.m. after the six friends drove from San Diego to the Mexican border and then walked into Tijuana, where they paid $30 to take a 15-mile taxi ride from Tijuana to Rosarito, said April Valdez, a passenger in the car.

"We heard the clubs and bars down there were fun," said Valdez. "We were trying to be responsible and take a taxi so no one drove."

The taxi was driving down a dark, two-lane highway at about 80 mph, Valdez said, while Spanish house music played on the radio. The driver switched on the high beams because the regular headlights weren't working, she said.

It was so dark that nobody saw a horse standing in the middle of the road until it was too late. The horse hit the windshield on the driver's side of the taxi then flipped onto the top of the car, crushing the roof and spinning the car around, Valdez said.

Riner and the taxi driver both died at the scene, she said. Mena-Perez, who was sitting next to Riner in the back seat behind the driver, suffered a broken back, cracked cranium, broken sternum and a broken arm, Valdez said.

Police in Rosarito confirmed that the accident took place and referred questions to an information officer, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

Valdez said she was incredibly frustrated at the slow response of the ambulance and lack of cooperation from the Mexican police.

She said it was 20 minutes before paramedics arrived at the scene, and police gave them the runaround about where they were supposed to go.

They had no cell phone service and were unable to contact fam-ily members immediately, she said.

"It is a whole different world down there," Valdez said. "People need to know to be careful."

Valdez, Juan Saenz, 20, Nick Holmes, 21, and Steve Manyen, 21, were not injured but said the incident left them shocked and in disbelief.

The four longtime friends sat together in a darkened living room Wednesday afternoon in Modesto, poring over photos and wiping back tears as they remembered Riner. He was very outgoing and loved anything to do with the outdoors, they said.

He was also an avid athlete, and was a member of the basketball and soccer teams at Davis High.

Riner would often go snowboarding, wakeboarding, cliff jumping or camping, Saenz said.

Snowboarding was his passion, and Riner's prized possession was a banner signed by several professional snowboarders. It hung on his bedroom wall alongside a picture collage made last year by Mena-Perez for their two-year anniversary. The collage is labeled "the best 2 years," and is made up of several pictures of the smiling couple.

The two had been dating for three years, since high school, Saenz said. Riner graduated in 2002.

Riner and Mena-Perez transferred from Modesto Junior College to attend San Diego State University, Saenz said.

He described Mena-Perez as Riner's "twin" because they were both outgoing and shared several interests. They were inseparable, Saenz said.

"They wanted to enjoy life right now, but they would have gotten married," he said.

Nick Holmes, 21, said Riner would do anything to help out a friend.

"If anyone of us were down, he was there for you," Holmes said.

Riner always had a project -- from fixing a fish pond to making homemade Japanese sake -- to keep him busy, Holmes said.

Riner wanted to be a sports doctor and had been living with his mother in Modesto before moving to San Diego, Saenz said.

"There wasn't one person who knew him that didn't like him," he said. "He was such a great guy ... it's been really hard to deal with this."

Bee staff writer Christina Salerno can be reached at 578-2337 or csalerno@modbee.com.

"It's hard," she said. "The other day I felt very desperate and wanted to move my legs, but I couldn't."

But Riner's death has been harder to deal with than her injury, she said.

"We were a fun couple," she said. "We could see ourselves marrying. He would give me strength, and I try to grab onto that, but it is hard without him being here."

Still, she said, she is thankful for a second opportunity at life.

"I can still go to school, and I can survive," she said. "My head is fine, and I have two strong arms. There are people here who can't move from the neck down or lose their memory."

She can remember the day of the accident clearly. The group of longtime friends spent the day at the beach in San Diego and ate at Joe's Crab Shack, then Mena-Perez had to go to work. The restaurant wasn't busy, so she asked if she could leave early to go out with her friends. They drove to the border and then caught a taxi for the 15-mile drive to Rosarito.

"Only God knows why he does things," she said. "Later on I will know, and it will be for the better. But I'm disappointed because we took a taxi so we didn't drink and drive. We did it so we wouldn't be in an accident, so ... why?"

Ana Perez, Mena-Perez's aunt, said there are no words to describe how the accident has affected the family.

"In every family there is an angel, a star. Tamara is that," she said. "She always has a smile and a good heart for everyone."

Mena-Perez wants to return to college in San Diego, where she was majoring in business. Her goal is to be back by next fall. Even though there will be reminders of her old life there, she says she is looking forward to the future.

"It will be a different time, a different story," she said.

For now, Mena-Perez is undergoing therapy to learn how to dress herself, take a shower and move around without help.

"When I get to be more independent, things will be more normal," she said, smiling as she does exercises to lift herself a few inches up from the wheelchair.

One of her inspirations has been Suzy Kim, her doctor at the center in San Jose. Like Mena-Perez, Kim is paralyzed from the chest down and uses a wheelchair, the result of a surfing accident in Southern California. After the accident, Kim returned to school and became a rehabilitation doctor.

Mena-Perez says her family has lifted her spirits, along with the knowledge that people she doesn't know have reached out to help or pray for her.

She also has become even closer to Riner's mother, who lost her only child in the accident.

"We are both trying to help each other out," Mena-Perez said.

Perez said she is amazed at her daughter's strength.

"I know both of us will succeed," she said. "Every day she is feeling better, and I feel better, too. My daughter is everything to me, and I am very proud."

Friends have established a trust fund to help the family pay for medical bills and expenses. Contributions may be made at any Modesto Commerce Bank in the name of Tamara Mena-Perez.

Bee staff writer Christina Salerno can be reached at 578-2337 or csalerno@modbee.com.