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San Diego County Fatal Freeway Accident

Raymundo Ambrosio-Vasquez, 53, was killed in a San Diego County auto versus pedestrian accident on the Interstate 15 in Poway the morning of March 25, 2009, according to a news reports in the San Diego Union-Tribune and 10news. The fatal accident occurred when Ambrosio-Vasquez, who was driving a white Toyota Tercel, had pulled over to the right shoulder and was standing outside his car. Ambrosio-Vasquez was struck by an Acura that had just entered the freeway from Poway Road, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The driver of the Acura stopped right away because he thought he had hit something and couldn’t see what he had hit in the dark. When he found the body of Ambrosio-Vasquez in the left two lanes of the northbound Interstate-15, the Acura driver started directing traffic to keep others from hitting Ambrosio-Vasquez.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Raymundo Ambrosio-Vasquez. I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who knew and loved this man. Please keep them in your prayers.
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Orange County Auto versus Pedestrian Accident

James Casey, 70, suffered major injuries in a Costa Mesa pedestrian accident after he was hit by a car. According to a news report in the Daily Pilot, the accident occurred the night of March 14, 2009 when Sheldon Dobkins, 73, struck Casey, who witnesses say, was walking off the center divider at the intersection of Newport Boulevard and 17th Street. Casey was rushed to an area hospital with serious injuries, but he is expected to survive. Dobkins was uninjured. He wasn’t cited or arrested in connection with this pedestrian accident.

I’m relieved that James Casey is going to survive and that he is expected to recover from his injuries. This Costa Mesa pedestrian accident could have been a lot worse. I wish Casey the very best for a quick and complete recovery.

According to the California Highway Patrol’s 2006 traffic accident statistics, there were no fatalities associated with pedestrian accidents in Costa Mesa. There were, however, 47 pedestrian accident related injuries in Costa Mesa during that time. In Orange County as a whole, 45 deaths and 802 injuries were reported in connection with pedestrian accidents in 2006.
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We have all read recent news reports that talk about the devastating effects of the economic downturn and the housing market crash in Orange County and the rest of California. A recent article in The Orange County Register, reports that the Orange County Food Bank has been forced to cut several of its food distribution programs because it is lacking in funds and donations.

As a personal injury law firm that has been based in Newport Beach, Orange County, for the last three decades, we believe that it is our duty to step up to the plate and contribute to the Food Bank. We may not be able to bring back their lost programs, but we can at least help add to their food reserves that are helping out tens of thousands of Orange County residents who are struggling through the current economic crisis.

Our office has done food drives for the last five years. So this is nothing new to me or my staff. We did our most recent food drive for the Orange County Second Harvest Food Bank last month during which we collected several 55-gallon drums of food. We participate in the food bank’s food drive annually because we strongly believe that we need to give back to the community.
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Several people were injured February 27, 2009 after an accident involving a boat that came loose from a trailer on the Interstate 5 in Sacramento, according to this KCRA News report. The accident occurred when the boat got unhitched from a pickup truck that was towing it southbound on the freeway, crossed a median into the northbound lanes and smashed into an oncoming car.

I’m relieved that this California auto accident did not result in major injuries or fatalities. There is no question that this could’ve turned out a lot worse. I wish the injured victims the very best for a quick and complete recovery. Please keep them in your prayers.
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Glendale police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who they say struck and seriously injured a 26-year-old man on an electric wheelchair, the Glendale News Press reports in this article. The man in the wheelchair was crossing New York Avenue just south of Foothill Boulevard the evening of February 13, 2009 when the driver in a white or light-colored Volkswagen, possibly a Jetta, struck him.

Soon after the impact, the man was ejected from his wheelchair and thrown onto the ground. The car then continued to push the wheelchair about 25 feet before fleeing the scene. The impact of the crash apparently broke that wheelchair to several pieces. The man was hospitalized with injuries. If you saw this Glendale hit-and-run accident or have any information about it, please call the Glendale Police Department at 818-548-4840 or Glendale Crime Stoppers at 818-507-7867.

My heart goes out to the young man in the wheelchair who it seems might have suffered critical injuries in this horrific accident. He will be in my prayers and I sincerely hope he makes a quick and complete recovery.

I trust that this hit-and-run driver is apprehended and brought to justice. The details of this incident are just appalling. It is unbelievable to me that someone would strike a wheelchair-bound person, knock them out of their chair and then continue driving as if nothing happened there! This person must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Hit-and-run is a serious criminal offense. California Vehicle Code section 20001 (a) states that a driver must remain at the scene of an accident, exchange information and/or make all attempts possible to render aid to the injured victim. Every motorist in California has this responsibility irrespective of whether the accident was his or her fault.
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A 60-year-old West Covina man killed in a collision with a fire truck in Mira Loma has been identified as Agustin Nava Miramontes, according to a news report in The Press Enterprise. Miramontes was killed the morning of February 4, 2009 after his Dodge Ram broadsided a Riverside County fire engine at the intersection of Etiwanda Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard. The impact of the collision flattened the driver’s side of the pickup truck. Miramontes died at the scene. All three firefighters from Mira Loma Station 17 suffered minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital.

The fire engine was apparently responding to an injury auto accident about a block away from where this collision occurred. The southbound engine reached the intersection and a red light. According to eyewitnesses, all lights were red at that intersection except for a green light for eastbound traffic. Miramontes’ Dodge pickup had the green light and continued forward through the intersection crashing with the front passenger side of the engine. The three-man crew was wearing seat belts inside the cab. None of the firefighters’ identities was released.
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A San Dimas nursing home has been fined $121,000 in connection with the death of a 90-year-old woman, who health officials say, died because of the nursing home’s negligence and poor care. According to this news report on KTLA’s Web site, the resident who was dependent on a ventilator, died on October 27, 2007, at the Casa Bonita Convalescent Hospital after being disconnected from the machine. Not only that, but the ventilator’s remote alarm had also been turned off so staff were not alerted to the problem.

State officials issued the Los Angeles County nursing home with what is known as an “AA” citation, which is the most severe fine or penalty that a nursing home can receive under California law. In addition to the $100,000 fine for an AA citation, the nursing home was also slapped with a $20,000 fine for failing to check on the alarm system and a $1,000 fine for failing to implement staff policies that ensured ventilator education and certification. An attorney for Casa Bonita has said that the operator of the facility, Longwood Management Corp, will appeal the fines.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of this 90-year-old woman, who suffocated to death because her ventilator had been turned off and she stopped breathing. A medical ventilator is an automatic machine that is designed to mechanically move air into and out of the lungs to provide a mechanism of breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe or is breathing insufficiently.
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Three deaths associated with a nationwide salmonella outbreak occurred in Virginia and Minnesota, officials for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have confirmed. According to this Associated Press news report, health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, universities and restaurants to throw out specific five-pound containers of King Nut peanut butter that has been linked to the salmonella outbreak, which has now sickened more than 400 people in 42 states. California has the highest number of afflicted people with 55 victims now. No deaths have been reported yet in California.

The contaminated peanut butter was apparently not supplied to retailers. However, it was distributed to nursing homes, schools, universities and restaurants. Officials fear that hundreds of illnesses and these three deaths were caused by the salmonella-tainted peanut butter. Officials had earlier found a match between samples from a King Nut container and the strains of salmonella bacteria making people sick across the country. King Nut has also recalled its King Nut and Parnell’s Pride brands with a lot code that begins with the number “8.” CDC officials say the salmonella bacteria in the current outbreak have been genetically fingerprinted as the Typhimurium type.

As each day goes by, it is becoming increasingly clear that the contaminated peanut butter triggered this horrendous salmonella outbreak. With food-borne illnesses, there could also be cross-contamination, which helps spread the illness even further. For example, if a knife that was used in the tainted peanut butter is also used in some other food, then that food becomes contaminated as well.
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A 22-year-old Rosemead man who died after his vehicle veered off a Los Angeles County roadway and rolled down an embankment in the Angeles National Forest has been identified as Simon Alexander Perez. According to this article the Los Angeles Daily News, the accident occurred January 5, 2009 on the Upper Big Tujunga Canyon west of Angeles Crest Highway. Perez was driving a 2007 Volkswagen west on Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road when the vehicle veered left across the westbound lanes, crossed the edge of the roadway and struck a tree.

California Highway Patrol officials said the car continued down a dirt embankment and came to rest against some shrubs. A 21-year-old Sun Valley man, who was a passenger in the Volkswagen, suffered moderate injuries in the crash.

My heart goes out to the family of Simon Alexander Perez, who died in this tragic accident. I offer my deepest condolences to them.
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Three people were hurt in a six-vehicle chain-reaction crash December 29, 2008 on the 57 Freeway south of Chapman Avenue in Placentia, which began when one of the drivers swerved to avoid a bedliner in the lanes. California Highway Patrol officials say that this was a bedliner that must have come flying out of a pickup truck because it wasn’t properly secured. Pickup truck bedliners often aren’t secured properly and come flying out on to freeways creating traffic hazards, CHP officials say. Our source for this blog was this news report in The Orange County Register. Two of the accident victims suffered moderate injuries and one person suffered minor injuries.

This is an accident that could have been a lot worse. I’m relieved that no one was seriously injured or killed in this Orange County freeway accident. I wish all the victims the very best for a speedy and complete recovery.
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