Andy Burgess, the former Hollister police officer from Gilroy injured in a January traffic accident, has died, according to the Hollister Police Department. He was 59 years old.
Burgess – an Army veteran and former sergeant with the Hollister Police Department – had been in critical but stable condition weeks after the accident involving a motorcycle driven by Burgess and a car driven by a 22-year-old Gilroy resident, Dulce Hernandez-Aguilar.
The crash Jan. 6 occurred in front of Kachy Produce, located at 8655 Monterey Road just north of Leavesley Avenue.
Santa Clara County Emergency medical personnel, Gilroy firefighters and police responded to the incident after Hernandez-Aguilar pulled out of the grocery mart’s parking lot and collided with Burgess, who was southbound on Monterey Road at a high speed, according to police. Burgess was airlifted by a medical helicopter to a Bay Area trauma center. The car driver was uninjured in the incident.
Doctors initially put Burgess in a medically induced coma to help with brain swelling resulting from major trauma to his skull. Burgess also suffered multiple hairline fractures to his pelvis and face, according to previous reports.
On Aug. 11, Burgess succumbed to his injuries from the motorcycle accident and died, according to a Hollister police statement.
Family and friends have established a gofundme account to offset the cost of the medical treatment the family has endured. For more, go to http://www.gofundme.com/6am0o8
