An expatriate well-known for his ceaseless fundraising for the Chapala Red Cross needed help from that very institution after he became the victim of a hit-and-run driver on the morning of Sunday, June 2.
Charlie Klestadt was making his regular rounds selling raffle tickets for the Red Cross when he was struck down by pick-up traveling east outside a restaurant on the Carretera just west of Chapala.
According to witness, the vehicle bounced off several parked cars before plowing into Klestadt and car-washer Manuel Renteria Ortiz, who had just finished washing the expat’s car.
Klestadt was hit directly on his right side and knocked down, sustaining injuries to his head and pelvis.
Witnesses say two ambulances arrived within minutes. Klestadt was slipped onto a papoose board, his head encased in padding and straps, and taken to the Cruz Roja clinic for triage.The Red Cross’ new digital x-ray machine showed two fractures of the pelvic bone that won’t need surgery but will require months of bed rest, along with three broken ribs.
The clinic was able to purchase the x-ray machine largely because of the prodigious fundraising by Klestadt and other like-minded and generous individuals.
Klestadt is now being treated in a Guadalajara hospital.
As of June 5, Chapala Police Chief Ramon del Arco said that the department had had no official word on the accident but officers from the local traffic department said that the vehicle, a white Toyota pick-up truck, license plate JM33552, had been located and impounded and that they knew the name of the owner of the vehicle.
Word from the Ministerio Publico (district attorney’s office), to whom the investigation will fall, was that later on June 5, the driver had shown up, paid bond and was not being held at this time.
Friends of Klestadt’s say he will not be out and about raising money for Cruz Roja any time soon.
More than flowers or cards or other gifts, Klestadt would prefer that donations are made to the Chapala Red Cross.
To learn how to do it the best way, telephone volunteer chairperson Margy Kassier at 766-4337.
A special donation project for car-washer Renteria Ortiz has been set up at the Cruz Roja table at the Lake Chapala Society. Although Renteria wasn’t hurt as badly as Klestadt, it will be some time before he can get back to his regular job and some money will surely help.
It is fitting that the organization for which Klestadt has worked so tirelessly was on the spot when he needed them most.