I personally send my heartfelt condolences to all of the family and friends of the victims of this tragic accident, and wish those injured a speedy recovery.

You can see by the raw video below that the spectators were standing way too close to the racing vehicles. Many have said that the reason why so many people were killed and injured was preciously because the fans were way too close to the action.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have heard that there will be no charges filed against anyone having anything to do with the race, but that the national park service is going to do an investigation, since they were the ones that gave a permit for the race.

I have seen news reports that the promoters and organizers of this event put signs up stating that people should stay at least 150 feet away from the racing vehicles. I am sure they think that this warning is sufficient to protect them from being responsible for this horrible accident; I disagree.

As a Personal Injury Attorney, I deal with negligence cases in one form or another every day. The way I see it, the organizers and promoters of this event are legally responsible for the deaths of 8 spectators, and the injury of 39 others.

They owed a duty of due care, to provide a safe way for the spectators to watch the race. They should have had adequate security at the event to keep the spectators a safe distance from the race. The owed a duty of due care, to erect barriers, tape, or something so that spectators such as the ones who were killed and injured, would have known where to stand during the race.

They apparently did nothing but put signs up saying that spectators should stay 150 feet away from the action. Hell, I for one do not know how to measure 150 feet without some kind of tape measure.

Many might argue that the persons who were killed and injured assumed the risk of harm that they suffered at this event. I disagree. Spectators are not engaged in a dangerous sport, they are simply there to watch. With some minimal precautions from the organizers and promoters of this event, this tragedy could have been avoided.

If you or your family suffered through the wrongful death of a loved one at this event, or your or a loved one were injured at this event, all me now for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1. You may be entitled to substantial compensation for your loss.

By California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © August 2010

Related posts

• 4 Year Old Boy killed in Hwy. 101 truck crash in South San Jose, California; driver is being held on DUI charges (0)
• What To Do After A California Motor Vehicle Accident. (0)
• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• The Victim of head on car crash in Southern California mourned. (0)
• Tort Reform is a big Scam; Why Tort Reform will Hurt You and take away more of Your Freedom! (0)

Scene of horrific Greyound Bus Accident

FRESNO, Calif. — A Greyhound bus carrying 47 people and traveling to Sacramento from Los Angeles crashed on a highway in California’s Central Valley on Thursday, killing six and injuring many others.

California Highway Patrol Officer Michelle Sigmond said the bus driver swerved to try to avoid another crash involving an overturned SUV and slammed into a concrete center divider and then struck another vehicle shortly after 2 a.m. just outside downtown Fresno. The bus went down an embankment, hit a eucalyptus tree and came to rest on a freeway off-ramp with its front end smashed and tree branches jutting into the vehicle.

Twisted pieces of metal, broken glass and torn clothing littered the ground around the accident scene.

Arlen Snider, who had been traveling from Phoenix to Sacramento to visit his mother, said he was asleep in the middle section of the bus when the crash occurred. She awoke to the smell of smoke and injured passengers all around her.

“I woke up on the floor of the bus and started helping people off the bus,” Snider, who escaped uninjured, said after arriving in Sacramento’s bus terminal Thursday morning.

In addition to the six dead – four women and two men, including the driver – several people were hurt with injuries that ranged from critical to bruises and cuts, said CHP Officer Kirk Arnold.

It’s unclear if all of the fatalities were on the bus.

“I had just woke up and I heard a boom once, and a boom again and the next thing I know we were down this embankment,” Linda Gee, a passenger on the bus, told KMPH-TV in Fresno.

“I’m alive and I thank god I’m alive,” she said. “There was just bleeding everywhere.”

The bus departed Los Angeles late Wednesday and stopped in Fresno before continuing on its route to Sacramento. It was on its way to Madera for one of about eight scheduled stops when the crash occurred, according to Greyhound spokeswoman Bonnie Bastian.

A relief bus was sent to take nine passengers who wanted to continue on to their destinations.

Northbound lanes of Highway 99, a major route through the San Joaquin Valley, have been closed since the crash.

Fresno Bus Accident Attorney Website

Related posts

• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• Head-on car crash on I-8 traps two in Southern California (0)
• 4 Year Old Boy killed in Hwy. 101 truck crash in South San Jose, California; driver is being held on DUI charges (0)
• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• CHP Cruiser hits Pickup Truck in Santa Rosa, California; Driver Critically Injured. (1)

Both of the woman’s legs were broken in the crash, and she is expected to be in a wheelchair for at least two months, Officer David Boyes said.

Six other pedestrians were hit as well, and one of them also sustained a broken leg. The others suffered more minor injuries, Boyes said.

The crash happened shortly before 8 p.m. at the intersection of Vallecitos and Wetmore roads.

Investigators determined that Livermore resident Farhat Mohammad, 20, had been driving a Honda Civic west on Wetmore Road when she turned left onto Vallecitos Road and struck the seven pedestrians.

The pedestrians, all adults, were in a marked crosswalk when they were hit, police said.

One person was taken by helicopter to John Muir Medical Center and two were transported by ground ambulance to Eden Medical Center.

Everyone but the woman with the two broken legs has been released from the hospital.

Mohammad had a valid drivers permit and was accompanied by a licensed driver at the time of the crash, police said.

Boyes said there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved.

As of this afternoon, she had not been charged with any crime, and the case was still under investigation.

 Livermore California Pedestrian Accident Attorney Website

Related posts

• What To Do After A California Motor Vehicle Accident. (0)
• 4 Year Old Boy killed in Hwy. 101 truck crash in South San Jose, California; driver is being held on DUI charges (0)
• Two People are Dead in Agoura Hills Car – Truck Accident (0)
• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• Distracted by cell phone, driver injured in Sutter County crash (0)

James Lee is arrested in connection with a crash that killed 4 year old.

A 4-year-old boy was killed Sunday night in South San Jose after an alleged drunken-driver returning from a heavy metal concert slammed into the back of the family’s broken down pickup truck.

 James “Jimmy” Francis Lee’s blood-alcohol level was “about twice the legal limit” of 0.08, said California Highway Patrol Officer Brien Rayner. “He said he fell asleep.”

About 6 p.m., the boy’s father had been unbuckling his 4-year-old son from the back of the family’s Chevrolet S-10, which was parked on the shoulder of southbound Highway 101 near Bailey Avenue when a Ford F-150 smashed into the truck. The boy’s mother and 12-year-old sister had already gotten out of the truck and were not injured.

Lee, 44, of San Jose was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on charges of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Rick Sung. He has not yet been arraigned, and has until Wednesday to be formally charged if he remains in custody. 

The Santa Clara County coroner’s office identified the boy as Jose Cortes-Diaz of Gilroy. 

The names of his parents and sister were not made public. The boy’s father suffered a broken jaw and fractured rib, according to the CHP reports.

The CHP said the collision caused the Ford to roll over onto its roof and the Chevy to roll down an embankment. The CHP noted that the Ford had been traveling about the speed limit of 65 mph or 70 mph at the time of the accident. 

The crash sent a tool box from the pickup bed of the family’s Chevy flying right into Jose’s head.

“Oh Jesus!” Lee’s father, James Lee Sr., 64, of San Jose, said in an interview when he was alerted of the boy’s death by the Mercury News. “I am so sorry for that little boy. Everybody likes my son. He’s a great kid and a good-hearted guy. But he had no business driving.”

Lee Sr. said he believed his son was at a concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sunday, where bands were playing in the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. Lee Sr. said his son, a father of two daughters, had recently bought a home in Gilroy. Father and son have worked for about three decades together as truck mechanics in San Jose.

Emergency crews said Jose was barely breathing when they arrived.

“The little boy was wedged behind the driver’s seat,” said San Jose fire Capt. Chuck Rangel. “He wasn’t doing too good.”

Firefighters pried him out with the Jaws of Life and hoisted him into a LifeFlight helicopter and flew him to San Jose Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

At the time, Santa Clara County sheriff’s helicopter happened to be flying in the area. Pilot Rob Heyde and partner, Deputy Leo Gonzalez, saw there were injuries down below, and traffic was beginning to jam up. The two decided to make an emergency landing on 101, after clearing the freeway using their public announcement system.

“They really went overboard to help,” said Sung, of the sheriff’s office. They were joined by a San Jose police motorcycle officer who was also there by chance.

Lee Sr. said his son had been in jail perhaps 15 years ago, but he couldn’t remember for what. Lee Jr. has no criminal record as an adult in Santa Clara County. According to a records search by the Department of Motor Vehicles, Lee is a commercial driver who had a spotless driving record.

Lee Sr. said his son, who attended Del Mar High School in San Jose, had been trying to get his life together after a bad relationship. But according to his father, Lee Jr. didn’t have a known drinking problem.

“I wasn’t aware of one,” Lee Sr. said.

San Jose Car Accident Attorney Website / San Jose Truck Accident Attorney Website

Related posts

• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• Distracted by cell phone, driver injured in Sutter County crash (0)
• SUV overturns in Highway 101 Crash in Oxnard California, hurts 7 bound for CLU swim meet (1)
• Santa Maria Woman Dies in Motorcycle Accident (0)

The accident happened about 3:30 p.m. on Larkin Road south of Brubaker Road, just south of the Butte County line.

The CHP said Virginia Hewitt, 31, was driving south on Larkin when her cell phone rang. Her speed was estimated at 50 to 65 mph.

As she looked down, her 1993 Ford Taurus drifted off the road and onto the gravel shoulder.

Hewitt attempted to steer back onto the road and lost control of the vehicle, which skidded across the northbound and southbound lanes, the CHP said.

The front of the vehicle struck an AT&T relay box. The car then jumped across an irrigation ditch, which paralleled the east side of Larkin Road, the CHP said.

The front of the car struck the east side of the ditch embankment. The impact propelled the car south, and it rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.

The vehicle came to rest in a private driveway.

The CHP said Hewitt suffered major injuries. She was transported to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

Using your cell phone while driving is dangerous. This accident is a perfect example of why you should not use your cell phone while driving.

What if this driver would have hit and killed someone simply because she wanted to answer her cell phone?

Sutter County Car Accident Attorney Website

Related posts

• 4 Year Old Boy killed in Hwy. 101 truck crash in South San Jose, California; driver is being held on DUI charges (0)
• What To Do After A California Motor Vehicle Accident. (0)
• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• CHP Cruiser hits Pickup Truck in Santa Rosa, California; Driver Critically Injured. (1)

The Napa County California Sheriff’s Office identified the dead as Matthew Jay Smith, 48, of Ashland, Ore., Laura Katharine Smith, 19, of Downingtown, Pa., and Richard Smith, 80, and Sally Smith, 74, both of Simbsbury, Conn.

Napa Sheriff’s Capt. Tracey Stuart said Sally and Richard Smith were on vacation in the Napa Valley. They were returning to Napa after picking up their son and granddaughter when the deadly chain-reaction collisions occurred.

The California Highway Patrol said a westbound big rig driven by Gustavo Lopez, 42, plowed into the back of the victims’ Suburu Forester that was stopped in heavy rush-hour traffic.

The Forester was pushed into the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer hauling concrete pipe. The big rig, driven by Woodland resident Luis Marabilla, 44, crushed the car, pushing it back across the westbound lane onto the shoulder of the road.

Lopez’s truck continued west and side-swiped a Chevrolet flatbed truck that Hilario Trujillo Jr., 33, was driving.

The victims were declared dead at the scene, the CHP said. Trujillo and Marabilla were uninjured, and Lopez was taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Center with minor injuries.

It appears Lopez was driving too fast for the conditions, based on the slow traffic and the size of the truck he was driving, CHP spokesman Jaret Paulson said.

Lopez told officers that traffic was stop-and-go as he traveled along Jamieson Canyon Road. 

He had stopped just prior to the crash, then accelerated through his gears. 

When traffic stopped again ahead of him, he had too much velocity to stop in time, CHP Officer Ryan O’Day said.

Lopez likely wasn’t speeding, but he was going too fast for conditions, Paulson said.

“It just looks like gross inattention at this point as to what caused the collision,” O’Day said.

Under federal law, commercial drivers must submit to a chemical test if they are in an accident. There was no sign that Lopez was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, O’Day said.

Lopez had started his trip in Woodland so he likely hadn’t been on the road long enough for fatigue to be a factor, O’Day said. Lopez wasn’t carrying a load so he wasn’t in a hurry, he said.

The CHP will decide whether to forward the case to the Napa County District Attorney’s office for prosecution. 

“Being that four people are dead because of inattention, I would be surprised if they didn’t press some sort of charges,” O’Day said.

They could range from reckless driving to vehicular manslaughter, he said.

Thursday’s crash brings the fatality total this year to eight victims from five crashes on Napa County roads.

The last time four people died in one crash was on Nov. 15, 2008, on Deer Park Road near Sanitarium Road outside of Angwin, O’Day said.

Napa County hasn’t seen a crash that killed more than four people since it started keeping records in 1999, he said.

The last time someone died on Jamieson Canyon Road was in December 2004, Paulson said.

Napa Valley California Truck and SUV Accident Attorney Website

Related posts

• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• SUV overturns in Highway 101 Crash in Oxnard California, hurts 7 bound for CLU swim meet (1)
• Motorcyclist suffers major injuries in Highway 1 crash in San Luis Obispo (0)
• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• Head-on car crash on I-8 traps two in Southern California (0)

Authorities say motorists exchanging information after a crash on the Ventura (101) Freeway in Sherman Oaks were hit by another vehicle, causing a second accident that killed three.

The fatal accident happened at about 2:10 a.m. Sunday on the freeway near the Coldwater Canyon Avenue exit, CHP Officer Anthony Martin said.

The California Highway Patrol says three people had been involved in a prior accident and had stepped out of their vehicles to exchange information when they were struck by another vehicle. Three other people were injured.

The identities of the deceased were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

How much do you want to bet that the person or persons who hit and killed the persons on the side of the road exchanging information were drunk or under the influence of drugs and alcohol?

Sheman Oaks, Calfornia Car Accident Attorney Website

Related posts

• California Highway Patrol: Is Your Car Ready For Severe Weather? (0)
• The Victim of head on car crash in Southern California mourned. (0)
• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• Motorcyclist suffers major injuries in Highway 1 crash in San Luis Obispo (0)
• Los Osos California couple dies in car accident in Kern County California (0)

Three of five people killed in a chain-reaction crash on the southbound 5 Freeway near the 14 freeway, early Monday were local children, authorities said.

Cynthia J. Hernandez, 9, Edgar A. Hernandez, 8, and Xochitl M. Hernandez, 5, all of Whittier, were killed after the car they were riding in collided with an overturned pickup truck at 12:14 a.m. on the southbound 5 just before the Balboa Boulevard exit, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Lutz.

Their cousin, Luis Villegas, 12, of Oakland was also killed.

The back of the Nissan the children were riding in caved in when the car was then rear ended by a Chevrolet Suburban, Lutz said. No one in the SUV was seriously injured.

The children’s mother, who is in her 30s, survived and was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Another man in his 20s was also in the car and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, Lutz said.

John Blackburn, 54, of Frazier Park, who was the driver of the pickup truck that triggered the accident when it hit the center divider, spun out of control and overturned, was killed.

If you our your family has been injured in a car accident call us for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1.

Santa Clarita Car Accident Attorney and Wrongful Death Attorney Website

Related posts

• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• Head-on car crash on I-8 traps two in Southern California (0)
• What To Do After A California Motor Vehicle Accident. (0)
• SUV overturns in Highway 101 Crash in Oxnard California, hurts 7 bound for CLU swim meet (1)
• Motorcyclist suffers major injuries in Highway 1 crash in San Luis Obispo (0)

A CHP spokesman said the exact time and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation and, due to the fire that engulfed the car shortly after the early morning collision, neither the identity, sex or age of the driver could be confirmed.

Officer Marvin Williford said the crash occurred sometime before 6 a.m., when the car, a Mercedes-Benz, was traveling north along Winters Road south of Putah Creek Road. It apparently swerved out of control across the southbound lanes of the narrow rural roadway and ran off the pavement and into an orchard.

Traveling at an unknown rate of speed, the car slid sideways, sheered off a large walnut tree, then caught fire.

The smoldering wreckage wasn’t discovered until about 6 a.m. when a local laborer reported the crash. When firefighters arrived, they found the fire was out and the car had been reduced to a charred shell. One occupant was found in the wreckage.

Because of the extensive damage to the Mercedes sedan caused by crash impact and the fire, CHP investigators were not immediately able to determine the exact year, model or registration of the car. The most accessible vehicle identification numbers of the car also were obliterated.

On Friday night, the Solano County Coroner’s Office said the victim is believed to be a male, but other identifying information is pending further investigation.

Anyone with information about the crash can contact the Solano area office of the CHP in Fairfield at 428-2100.

Winters, California and Fairfield, California Car Accident Attorney

Related posts

• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• The Victim of head on car crash in Southern California mourned. (0)
• Motorcyclist suffers major injuries in Highway 1 crash in San Luis Obispo (0)
• Los Osos California couple dies in car accident in Kern County California (0)
• California Highway patrol says 12 dead in California traffic accidents (0)

According to authorities, an emergency medical technician with San Diego Medical Services who was responding to an accident was struck and killed by a car.

Law enforcement said Esteban Bahena and his partner stopped to help a stranded driver on northbound SR-163 at around 7 a.m. While they were there, an accident happened in the same stretch of highway when a pickup truck and a Toyota Scion collided.

Bahena reportedly crossed the freeway to set up flares to let oncoming drivers know about that accident when he was hit by a Chrysler Sebring.

Bahena’s partner began CPR and after a nearby fire crew stopped to help, they loaded Bahena up and took him to Mercy Hospital in his own ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 8:32 a.m.

According to the California Highway Patrol, a fifth car might have been involved due to the fact the Sebring has rear end damage with blue paint left on the bumper. Officers say a blue car may have struck the Sebring but left the scene.

Bahena, who had been with the city as an EMT for two years, was the first EMT or paramedic to be killed in the line of duty in the company’s 13-year history as the city’s paramedic provider.

The driver of the Sebring was transported to UCSD Hospital in serious condition.

San Diego Car Accident Attorney and Wrongful Death Lawyer

Related posts

• Three killed in another accident on Highway 46 North of Bakersfield, California. (0)
• Los Osos California couple dies in car accident in Kern County California (0)
• The Victim of head on car crash in Southern California mourned. (0)
• Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway (1)
• Man killed, Six Injured in Truck Accident outside Salinas, California. (0)