‘This is my first day here alone’

Vacationer’s wife killed, son in ICU after New Year’s Eve crash

OAKLAND PARK — Comfort is tough to find nowadays for Dan Zimprich.

His wife, Ciara, 44, died in a two-car collision in Oakland Park on New Year’s Eve during their annual family vacation to South Florida. They’d been married 17 years.

The accident left their

14-year-old son, Maguire, sedated and unresponsive in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Broward Health Medical Center with a brain hemorrhage. His prognosis is uncertain.

“They’re really worried because it won’t stop,” Zimprich, 47, said of the bleeding.

Zimprich, who runs a family-owned sports memorabilia business, has four broken ribs. Their

15-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, wasn’t in the car during the accident.

Zimprich was released from the hospital Wednesday, but before that, Mackenzie spent every day and night by his side.

“She’s staying strong,” Zimprich said of Mackenzie, “but I know she’s hurting.”

She traveled back home Thursday to Cottage Grove, Wisc., with a family friend. The sophomore had final exams to take.

“I had to send her home,” Zimprich said. “She has school, and I can’t have her see her brother like that.”

“This is my first day here alone,” Zimprich said Friday.

It could be the first of many days alone in South Florida in what has been already an emotionally — and financially — draining experience.

About 5:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Zimprich and his wife were returning from dinner on the beach; Maguire had been fishing and Mackenzie was shopping. They were on their way to pick her up at the mall, but were stopping first at a McDonald’s for Maguire.

The Zimpriches were traveling west in the 1500 block of East Commercial Boulevard, and as Zimprich was turning left near the McDonald’s, the car was hit by a Porsche Taycan that was traveling east on Commercial.

“It was like a split second,” Dan said.

The force of the collision sent the Zimpriches’ car into a power pole. Ciara was pronounced dead about three hours after the crash.

No other details, including the condition of the Porsche’s driver, were available Friday. The accident remains under investigation, said Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff ’s Office.

The family friend took Zimprich and Mackenzie shopping so they could buy clothes and other essentials. Zimprich said because the crash is still under investigation, police won’t release any of the family’s belongings from the car.

Zimprich is now living in hotels. He spends his days going from the hospital to be by Maguire’s side, to a hotel for sleep, and then back to the hospital.

It’s a tough existence. There’s no telling when Maguire will be released.

“It could be any day to a month,” Zimprich said. “I have a great support system back in Wisconsin. I have a big family, she has a big family, but right now I’m just kind of going from hotel to hotel.”

A family friend established a GoFundMe page to help with expenses while Zimprich is in South Florida.

COURTESY PHOTO Dan Zimprich lost his wife, Ciara, in a New Year’s Eve car crash in Oakland Park while the family was on its annual South Florida visit. Their son, Maguire, 14, is hospitalized.