Online fundraiser underway to help Yasmine Mendoza with medical costs

HERMISTON — A Umatilla woman suffered serious injuries the morning of March 22 in the parking lot of a Hermiston restaurant after a pickup struck her and then a second vehicle accidentally ran over her.

Irrigon resident Manuel Contreras Torres, 34, is in the Umatilla County Jail and faces felony charges of second-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, felony hit-and-run and several misdemeanors, according to state court records.

According to the Hermiston Police Department, officers responded at 2:22 a.m. on March 22 to a report of an accident in the parking lot of El Nopal Mexican Grill & Seafood, 315 SW 11th St., Hermiston. Witnesses told the police that Torres intentionally ran over Yasmine Mendoza, 28, then fled the scene with three other occupants inside the pickup.

HPD Chief Jason Edmiston said Torres “rammed her into a vehicle.”

Because of the chaos Torres created, Edmiston said, “a second vehicle trying to get out of the parking lot inadvertently ran over Mendoza while she was on the ground.”

Edmiston said officers rendered aid to Mendoza and began collecting statements and evidence. Mendoza was transported to Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston before being sent to Portland via an emergency flight.

“Her injuries were extensive,” Edmiston said.

The latest report he had is that Mendoza is unconscious with a tracheal intubation, which is a flexible plastic tub placed in the trachea to maintain an open airway or to serve as a conduit through which to administer certain drugs.

The Umatilla Police Department located the pickup at a Umatilla residence and assisted with establishing a perimeter around the location and securing the scene. HPD officers began writing a search warrant for the pickup, which they later served, and took Torres into custody.

An online fundraising campaign is underway at shorturl.at/nIkr2 to help Mendoza, a single mother of two children, cover her medical bills.