On April 29, two North Texas teens were killed in a head-on collision. The teens, Crystal and Andres Pineda, were brother and sister. According to WFAA, Crystal, 16, and Andres, 15, were driving to get food with three of their friends.
The crash happened when a truck veered over the double yellow lines, hitting the teens’ vehicle head-on. Crystal was pronounced dead on the scene, and Andres was transported to the hospital before he died from his injuries.
Dallas Police are currently searching for the driver of the truck. They named Faustino Rivera as a suspect.
“They (Dallas Police) believe Faustino Rivera was the driver involved in a wrong-way hit and run crash that killed two teenage siblings & injured three other teens Friday night in Dallas,” NBC 5 reporter Alanna Quillen shared on Twitter alongside pictures of Faustino.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? @DallasPD is looking for him. They believe Faustino Rivera was the driver involved in a wrong-way hit and run crash that killed two teenage siblings & injured three other teens Friday night in Dallas. @NBCDFW
DETAILS: https://t.co/Za3mdRyO8O pic.twitter.com/kgyLolsEGk
— Alanna Quillen (@AlannaNBC5) May 2, 2022
At about 9:00 p.m., officers responded to the crash, which happened on Esperanza Road, near Coit and Spring Valley.
According to WFAA, the three friends are alive but injured.
Nancy Pineda, the siblings’ cousin, told WFAA that the teenagers had left to get dinner.
“They were going literally just down the street to go get some tacos,” she said. “They were going for dinner, and they didn’t make it.”
The driver was in a red pickup truck, according to Dallas Police, and fled the scene after the crash.
“He didn’t even stop to check on them or help them or anything, he left immediately after the accident,” Nancy Pineda said.
Family members and friends visited the scene of the accident on April 30 to place mementos, pictures, and flowers for the siblings. Their stepmother, Daniela Martinez, told WFAA that she had learned about the crash when the teens’ mother called her.
“I couldn’t really understand what she was saying, so I just dropped everything that I was doing. I didn’t even know where the car accident happened, I just knew that I had to drive out here,” Martinez said.
Martinez also spoke to NBC 5, sharing that the brother and sister were students at J.J. Pearce High School. Family and friends are hoping police find the person responsible.
“It’s just not fair that whoever did this is out there just living free like nothing happened. And we just want justice for what happened to them,” Martinez said.
She said she hopes the man comes forward on his own soon.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the funeral expenses.
Nancy Pineda told WFAA, “We need justice for those two little kids that had a whole future, a whole life, and now it’s taken away by the person. For him to come up and own his own responsibility because if he did it once, what shows you that he’s not going to do it again.”
According to Dallas Police, the truck was a 2009 maroon GMC Sierra pickup truck with a Texas license plate that reads: RHF3302.
The department asks anyone with information regarding the accident to contact Detective Kenneth Watson.
