Family who lost son to car crash holds fundraiser

A makeshift memorial is placed at a tree along Placentia Avenue, across the street from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, on Wednesday. A high-speed single-car crash killed driver Jacob Pacheco, 16, of Costa Mesa and injured his teenage passenger just after midnight on Wednesday, according to police.

By Bradley Zint

Dec. 4, 2014 7:43 PM PT

When Bernice Torres heard about a former Estancia High School student’s untimely death, she knew she needed to help.

Torres, an Estancia alumna, didn’t know Jacob Pacheco, but when hearing the circumstances of the 16-year-old dying after a car crash last week, she was reminded of the similarly painful experience she endured last year when her younger brother was killed.

Pacheco died Nov. 26 after his borrowed BMV slammed into a tree near Estancia High School, where he attended before transferring to Back Bay High School.

Luis Adrian Torres, 19, an Estancia graduate, died in June 2013 after his car veered off the road and hit a tree along Susan Street near Sunflower Avenue.

“I felt this was a sign from God to help,” Torres said.

On Thursday afternoon, Torres and Pacheco’s Costa Mesa family — including his older sister, Sylvia Torres, and mother Elsie Torres — were running a bake sale at Palm Harvest Church to raise money. Torres noted they all share same last name, and though they aren’t related, they now share a bond.

Sylvia, a Costa Mesa High alumna, smiled when talking about how their Westside community, as well as the Fire Department, stopped by the bake sale and stepped in to help. Some businesses donated doughnuts and pizza. Local schoolchildren stopped by the church to give what they could.

The family’s goal is to raise $5,000. They’ve raised about $500 so far with the bake sale and an online account on GoFundMe.com. More fundraising efforts are planned, including collection boxes at local businesses.

For Jacob, they created a “friendship box” to collect donations. A sign affixed to the rainbow-colored container read, in Spanish, “Donations of love to support Elsie, who lost her son Wednesday.”

The memory of losing her little brother still stung for Sylvia. She remembered Jacob being born and now was coping with his sudden demise.

“He was overall a really good kid,” Sylvia said. “He loved everybody. What everybody’s doing, all of his friends, it goes to show the extent of his love.”

Sylvia said she worried for her mom, who raised her three children alone.

“It’s always been my mom and I, and I’ve kind of tried to step in,” she said of helping raise Jacob. “He was always kind of ‘my child.’ I took him everywhere with me. He was an amazing uncle too. He loved my kids and played with them all the time.”