Tough times for Elgin family a year after sinkhole swallowed car

A year after a 10-foot-long sinkhole swallowed her car, San Juanita Pineda still can't bring herself to drive at night.

"Up to this date, any bump I hit or whatever, I just get terrified. I get nervous," the Elgin woman said. "When it's dark outside, I don't go out."

Pineda and her son Benjamin Hernandez, now 16, plunged into the sinkhole in the early morning hours of July 1, 2014, on a rural road south of Burlington while delivering newspapers. The sinkhole was deep enough that later a pickup truck ran over Pineda's car and its driver came to their aid.

Mother and son said they still haven't fully recovered from their injuries and never imagined life would be what it is a year later.

Ben, who lost two teeth and suffered a broken jaw and a broken rib, said he takes over-the-counter pain medication every few days to deal with bouts of back pain. Otherwise, he's well enough to walk to school and play basketball with his buddies, although not too roughly, he said.

His 42-year-old mother, however, said that for her things are getting worse, not better. She underwent shoulder surgery after the accident and now has pain in her shoulder, arm and legs, and can't sit or stand for long periods of time, she said.

"I'm not the same person as I was a year ago," she said.

Unable to work since the accident, Pineda said she feels like she has failed her son by not being able to properly provide for him. She even considered suicide in March, but her sister talked her out of it, she said.

"I don't know if it has to do with my age or not, but (recovery) is not going the way it was supposed to keep going," she said.

"For three years I was doing full-time and part-time (work). I was great. I was good. The only problem was just lack of sleep, but otherwise I was fine. And ever since the accident, it just pushed me down - really bad."

The aftermath

Ben, who just finished his sophomore year at Larkin High School, said he'd never really talked about the accident - not even with family or friends - until sitting down with the Daily Herald last week. Doing so made him a little angry and uncomfortable, he said. "I did try to move on from it," he said.

The last thing he recalls is leaning out the window to put a newspaper in a mailbox.

"I remember waking up (in the car). I really couldn't move. I heard my mom talking on the phone, and I heard when the truck hit us. I don't remember the ambulance coming. I passed out."

Next, he remembers medical personnel working on him at the hospital, saying he might need surgery, he said.

So how does it feel to have gone through the horrific experience? "Blessed, because I'm here," he said. "I'm alive."

Pineda said she also suffers from insomnia, and takes antidepressants and attends a women's counseling group, but none of it seems to help much, she said.

Her older children and relatives help her financially as much as they can, but she constantly worries about how to pay for rent and bills, she said. Her daughter and two grandchildren, who lived in Michigan, moved in recently, she said.

She gets government assistance in the form of food stamps, but she was recently denied when she applied for disability benefits, she said. She was told she should be able to find a job that accommodates her health issues, she said.

"The only good thing that happened out of the accident is that both of us are still here," she said. "Otherwise, I'm out of a job. I could go back, but I know I'm not going to last."

Christmas was difficult, and Ben's birthday on July 17 will be just as tough, she said. "There are things he wants to do, places he wants to go," she said. "I can't do anything like I used to."

Help from others

Pineda said she's grateful for the kindness of the strangers who donated almost $12,000 to help her and her son when their ordeal made local news. The money is long gone, much of that covering Ben's dental work and medications, she said.

An Elgin car dealership gave her a used car, but a few months later one of her children totaled it in an accident on the way to work, she said.

"I was very thankful for all the people that did help out and everything," Pineda said. "But there's no amount of money that is going to relieve the amount of pain we're going through, the suffering that I'm going through."

Pineda and her son are patients of the VNA Health Care clinic in Elgin, whose officials declined to comment.

Pineda said she considered suing Burlington Township, whose jurisdiction the road falls under, but lawyers told her a sinkhole is considered "an act of God."

"I believe an act of God is a tornado," she said. "I don't believe a sinkhole is an act of God."

Adding more salt to the wound, no one from the township ever checked in on her and Ben, she said. With just a phone call, she said, "I would have gotten a little bit of relief."

Burlington Township Highway Commissioner Jack Krueger didn't respond to repeated requests for comment.

Sometimes, Pineda said, she can't help but blame herself, because her job as an independent contractor for the Daily Herald was the reason she and Ben were out on that dark road on that fateful night.

"I know it's not my fault that sinkhole was there and I fell right in it," she continued, "but because of that happening, I messed up my life. I messed up (Ben's) life."