Articles Posted in Pedestrian Accidents

Erick Wiswell, 24, and Donald Anderson, 30, both of Long Beach, have been arrested and jailed on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving with great bodily injury after a fatal pedestrian accident, according to a story in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Thursday morning, the two Long Beach men were apparently engaging in mutual road rage while driving north on Paramount Blvd. in Long Beach at 60 mph in a 35 mph zone. According to Long Beach Police Department spokesperson Nancy Pratt, Wiswell, the driver of the front car, slammed on his brakes and then Anderson, the driver of the following car, swerved left to avoid a collision and struck a pedestrian, Lois Kay Rahimam, 55, of Signal Hill.

Rahimam, who regularly walked the neighborhood in the morning, was rushed to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where she later died.

A senseless death of an innocent pedestrian. A women’s life cut short way before her time. Two men who are rightfully charged with and probably will be convicted of a felony – vehicular manslaughter.
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A municipality cannot be sued over its failure to install a traffic signal at an intersection where a boy was killed, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in affirming a summary judgment, according to an article in Lawyers USA weekly magazine.

According to the article, the plaintiff’s 13-year-old son was fatally struck by a car while he tried to cross an intersection in Phoenix. The plaintiffs alleged in the lawsuit that the teenager died because the city did not place a traffic signal at the busy intersection where the accident occurred. The parents particularly accused the city of being negligent in “adopting and implementing a traffic control computer program that prioritized the need for signals based on an intersection’s traffic volume, proximity to schools and collision history,” the article stated.

The city claimed immunity for policy-making decisions made by a municipality arguing that the decision not to put a traffic signal at that intersection fell within the scope of such immunity. The court agreed and in fact, said this is especially the kind of decision that should be protected because it involved the “exercise of discretion” and involved determining how to study the traffic issue, the type of resources to allocate for its study and execution and what process to follow in order to achieve that.
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A 10-year-old El Monte girl is in critical condition after she was hit by a car while crossing a busy intersection with her sister and cousin Friday night, according to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Mirissa Cortez was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with major head injuries after she and the two other girls were hit as they tried to cross Peck Road.

Mirissa’s sister, Cosvi, was treated for minor injuries and released while the girls’ 18-year-old cousin, yet to be identified, remained in the hospital with a back injury. According to the news report the accident happened at about 8:50 p.m. at the intersection of Peck Road and Ranchito Street, when 71-year-old Julian Weisberg of Thousand Oaks drove through the intersection and hit the girls, who were walking on the marked crosswalk. There were no arrests or citations. Officials are still investigating the circumstances of the crash.

But several eyewitnesses and local residents say that the intersection where this accident occurred is one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in the area. Although there is a 35 mph speed limit, motorists rarely stick to it, observers say. Officials have reported four collisions at that intersection since December. Residents say the intersection needs at least a stop sign to make motorists stop for the pedestrians.
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Carol Daniel and Stacey Neria were minding their own business jogging along PCH when William Todd Bradshaw plowed his car into their bodies, causing them to fly into the air and then come crashing down on his car. What did Bradshaw do? He drove his bloodied car away from the scene of the hit and run and hid until the police caught up with him 9 days later. It is unbelievable that Bradshaw was still driving! He had 3 previous DUIs!

That was April 8, 2006, a little over a year ago. Stacy Neria and Carol Daniel lived, but their lives have been left in tatters. After the accident 34 year-old Stacy was only able to communicate by blinking her eyes, but now over a year later she has learned to swallow, smile and speak softly, but her three children have lost the mother they once knew. Carol Daniel has regained some movement in her arms, but the rest of the 42 year-old mother’s body is also paralyzed. Carol also has three children who have also lost the mother they knew.

What did Bradshaw get? In February of this year he was sentenced to 4 years. But, Carol and Stacy got a life sentence!
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A woman who was selling flowers and teddy bears for Mother’s Day and a Guatemalan immigrant were killed Sunday morning after a driver jumped the curb and plowed into the parking lot where the woman had set up her stand, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Marilyn Herod, a Riverside mom who was fundraising for her church in South Los Angeles, was struck by the driver of a black 2006 Dodge Charger, who hit the fence in front of Herod’s stand. One of the bars from the wrought-iron fence struck Herod in the head, officials said. After striking Herod, the Dodge continued diagonally across the parking lot, smashing into another fence. Salvin Herrera, who was waiting for a bus, was struck in the head and killed. Two other women and a man suffered injuries.

Police arrested the driver of the Dodge, Harley Darnell Daniels, 21, on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, the Times article said. Officials believe Daniels was under the influence of a nonalcoholic intoxicant but they were waiting for lab tests to identify the substance. Daniels himself suffered minor injuries, officials said. Those who saw the crash reported that Daniels appeared to be falling asleep right before the crash. Another witness said he was racing with another vehicle.
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A driver running a red light at a Gardena intersection hit a 3-year-old boy and his mother — severely injuring the child — as they were crossing Crenshaw Boulevard at 135th Street, according to an article published in the Daily Breeze. The driver, 75-year-old Eldon Davis of Inglewood, struck the pair as they were walking on a marked crosswalk after failing to stop for a red light, according to a California Highway Patrol official.

The car then veered off the road and hit a power pole near the intersection’s northeast corner, pushing the young boy into a storm drain, he said. Emergency crews responding to the 5:30 a.m. accident freed Jeffery Mathelus from the ditch and transported him with his mother, 26-year-old Guirlaine Bonhomme of Hawthorne, to County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to the report. Bonhomme suffered moderate injuries, while her other child, a 5-year-old who was crossing the street at the same time, was not struck or injured. Officials say they are “worried” about the 3-year-old’s condition.

Hospital spokeswoman Julie Rees said the family requested that no information be released about their conditions. Davis, who suffered minor injuries, was taken to Centinela Freeman hospital in Inglewood. Highway Patrol officers were continuing to investigate the accident Friday afternoon and had not determined whether the morning rain showers contributed to the crash. But CHP officials said it wasn’t raining when they got there but that the roadway was damp. Davis has not yet been arrested in connection with the accident because the investigation is pending.
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Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata is determined to make his city the model for pedestrian safety. This is according to a Feb. 24 article in the Seattle Times.

Licata’s stepson, now 18, was critically injured three years ago while trying to catch a bus to school. The teenager was in a coma for months and suffered brain injuries.

The article by Sanjay Bhatt states that Licata’s stepson, Josef Robinson, has filed a lawsuit alleging that negligence by the city and county led to his severe injuries. Filed in December, the suit doesn’t specify a dollar amount, but an earlier administrative claim against the city sought $20 million in damages.

As it turns out, it’s not just one councilman. In what can only be described as a strange coincidence, others on the council also have a personal concern about pedestrian safety: David Della’s chief of staff, Tatsuo Nakata, was fatally struck by a motorist in November. Peter Steinbrueck was hit by a car at age 11, lapsed into a coma and spent a year mending a broken body. Jean Godden was nearly run over as a child and escaped with bruises.

The council adopted a resolution this month calling for a complete review of city policies affecting pedestrians. A pedestrian master plan, if approved by the council, would influence the city’s future landscape — from road design to building permits — and guide a nine-year spending plan of some $8.5 million annually on improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists.
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