After a widower decided he will no longer let people look the other way, he posted photos of the nightmare he was living. Empathetic viewers were shocked to see what was in the coffin with the man’s deceased wife. Now, many say the person responsible didn’t face stiff enough consequences. See for yourself, and you decide.
Zach Kincaid had his life turned upside down when his beloved wife of 12 years was killed after being struck by a car driven by 28-year-old Marcos Forestal. Going 85 mph, speeding down the wrong lane, Forestal was reportedly drunk when he crashed into Krystil Kincaid’s minivan in Hemet, California at 8:30 pm on that fateful night. Making matters worse, Zach was on the phone with Krystil when tragedy struck and his world was torn completely apart.
“We were talking, and then I just heard her scream,” the 34-year-old widower recalled. “That scream only probably lasted about two seconds, but it replays in my mind very, very slowly,” he added. “There was a quiver of almost like despair or impending doom — and then I heard the loudest crash. It sounded like the car was tumbling after that, but it didn’t,” he explained.
“And then, there was just silence. I didn’t hear her whimper. The silence was terrifying. The silence lasted for a while.” Next, he heard people rushing to the car, trying to open the door. They told him Krystil was still breathing, but her legs were pinned and a fire was coming for her.
Krystil was 8 months pregnant with her fifth child and planning to go on maternity leave in just four days. “She’s pregnant, she’s pregnant, is the baby okay?” screamed Zach, who was 450 miles away from his wife, out of town for work and stuck on the other end of the phone. As Zach was scrambling to get a flight home, a doctor broke the news to him over the phone that his daughter, who they had planned to name Avalynn Onix, was dead.
Then came the news that Krystil was gone too. Zach had to tell their three children and his stepdaughter that both their mother and sister were gone. After that devastating conversation, he received a link on Facebook from Krystil’s brother. Forestal had live-streamed the crash that killed his wife and unborn child. “I had an accident. Guys, look at what happened to me,” Forestal, a boxing champion, said in Spanish in the video. “Man, a car crossed in front of me. Look at my car guys,” he added before a cop approached.
“I was watching him try [to] put the blame on my wife and not take responsibility,” Zach recalled. “And, in the background, I saw my wife’s car on fire,” he added. “He didn’t even have enough humanity to go over there and try to open the door. Hold her head up, so she could breathe. Try to put out the fire.”
Because of this man’s actions, the now-widower was left planning a funeral for two, images of which would later go viral when the grieving husband and father posted them on Facebook after deciding the photos needed to be seen. The funeral was the first, last, and only time the dad got to see and hold his daughter. So, it’s understandable that he wanted plenty of pictures. It was around midnight, just after the funeral, when Zach noticed something in the photos.
In those images, you see one of his sons trying to get closer as his father shut the casket, knowing it would be the last time he would ever see his mother and sister. Looking at the heartbreaking pictures, Zach realized this wasn’t just his reality but a nightmare far too many families experience after a drunk driver takes the life of their loved one. So, he decided to share it with the world because he didn’t want anyone to be able to “look the other way anymore.”
Adding insult to injury, Forestal was only charged with one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. “My daughter is 36 weeks, and she’s not even be considered as a human. So, one count,” the devastated dad explained. Zach was even more enraged to learn that Forestal will only face a maximum of 10 years in prison for Krystil’s death — if he is even convicted.
“They say that it’s because of lack of intent. And I find that real funny, that word intent,” Zach vented to Daily Mail. “This guy’s driving like a maniac in the wrong lane and hit my wife on the other side of it head on. He didn’t try to break. He didn’t try to swerve. He just hit her,” he continued.
“He wasn’t just drunk he was driving extremely reckless. To say there was no intent — I know this, his intent wasn’t good,” he furthered. “I just have this gut feeling that he’s just going to be out drinking and partying, feeling sorry for himself in no time. And, that’s just not acceptable. It’s disgusting.”
Zach went on to explain how the tragic loss has left him feeling “100 percent betrayed” by the society we live in today. “They’re basically sending a message to my kids and me that my wife is just disposable. And that my daughter is just a clump of cells,” he said. “To me, that’s not a world I want to live in. I don’t think any of us should be comfortable living in that kind of a world.”
Wanting to change DUI laws and hoping to see harsher punishments enacted, Zach said, “I put up those pictures so everyone can see the nightmare I’m living and my kids are living every day for the rest of our lives.” He’s also started a Change.org petition, hoping harsher punishments for driving drunk will be enacted. In the meantime, he wants these photos to serve to save other families from his pain as people see the devastation that drunk driving can cause.
“I want to strike a nerve,” Zach admitted. “Look at my nightmare that I live every day,” he said. “It’s a harsh reality and people need to look at it because drunk driving destroys more than just people that are killed in the crash,” he added. “I’m using it as a tool to protect everyone else. That’s what this is about. It’s not about me getting vengeance. This is about doing what’s right,” he furthered. “This is about making sure that my wife didn’t die for nothing. That my daughter didn’t die for nothing. This is my way to honor them. This is my way to save others.”
