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The web of lawsuits in the Brandy Norwood fatal crash case became a little more intricate last week after the singer-actress and another driver involved in the crash sued each other in Superior Court, each accusing the other of negligence, according to an Associated Press article posted on the San Jose Mercury News’ website.

The 28-year-old actress, known mostly by her first name, says Mallory Ham of Simi Valley caused the Dec. 30 crash on the 405 Freeway in Sherman Oaks. Ham was injured in that incident, but the crash killed 38-year-old Awatef Aboudihaj of Los Angeles. Her husband has sued both Brandy and Ham for reckless driving. Aboudihaj’s parents and her two children also have separate lawsuits pending against Brandy.

In her lawsuit, Brandy denies allegations made against her in a previous lawsuit and asserts her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while requesting a jury trial. But Ham maintains that Brandy was driving recklessly and is seeking unspecified damages.
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A one-car crash, in Anaheim, took the life of 16 year-old Patricia Thompson last Saturday when her Toyota 4Runner went out of control; hitting a light pole. Amy Husted and Shelly Bailey, both 18, are recovering from the auto accident that took the life of their friend and left them with physical injuries, scars and a new outlook on life.

Amy and Shelly always loved to spend time with their good friend Patricia Thompson. So, when Patricia called them to have them come along with her to plan a party for some friends coming from Colorado they didn’t give it a second thought. But, when Patricia showed up in her Toyota 4Runner with two other friends there was no real room for Amy and Shelly to sit; they jumped in the far back, Shelly on top of the full laundry basket and Amy on the floor beside her. A mile into the ride the 4Runner suddenly jerked to the right, rolled and hit a pole-ejecting Patricia from the car. An investigation is ongoing as to whether, and which, occupants were wearing seat belts. The toxicology results are not yet available.

Amy remarked from her hospital bed, “I still feel as if she is here. It hasn’t hit me yet. With Patricia gone, I don’t know what is going to happen from now on, but I know I want to do better in my life.” Both Amy and Shelly believe they can teach others from their experiences. Shelly wants to be a teacher and Amy wants to coach gymnastics. I wonder what Patricia wanted to be? Whatever it was it will not happen now…….

What was the cause of this fatal accident? It could have been prevented. Was the driver of the 4Runner driven to distraction?

During the summer of 2005 Toyota presented a free class for teen drivers, rightly called “Distractions Course”. The instructor for this course tells the students up front, “…if you hit them they die…” referring to traffic cones lining the course. Megan Waechter, 15, participated in the program at the suggestion of her father.
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An investigation is ongoing into a four car collision that took the lives of Grisna Meas 17, and Rick Vetter, 52, of Long Beach, who were apparently killed on impact after Deneshio Lankford’s Honda swerved sideways into oncoming traffic, where it was struck by a SUV – splitting the car in two.

Lankford, 20, also of Long Beach was apparently speeding on PCH when he lost control and crossed into oncoming traffic, according to Seal Beach police Sgt. Ron Lavelle. When Lankford hit Vetter’s BMW, it burst into flames, killing Vetter, as well as Lankford’s passenger, Grisna Meas, 17. Lankford got off with only a broken leg and a broken arm.

According to Dateline, after combing through over 100,000 accident reports, on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in 2005 there were 4 fatalities – 3 of those were speed related, and PCH itself was designated as a dangerous highway.

According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis out of the 4329 fatalities in all of California in 2005, approximately 25 percent of those were speed-related.
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A Pittsburgh truck driver who improperly hitched a wood-chipper to his vehicle was sentenced Tuesday to nine to 18 months in jail for causing a crash that killed a father and two of his triplets, according to an Associated Press news report that was posted on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website.

The wood-chipper broke free from Bradley Demitras’ truck on a busy highway, rolled across the median and slammed into the family’s minivan. Demitras expressed remorse for his actions, but of course, it was too late. The damage had been done.

“All I can say is I am sorry,” he said. “I know that sounds like the hollowest thing in the world, but I am sorry.”

After his sentence, Demitras must prominently display a picture of the accident scene in his home, Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus ruled. He must also serve six years’ probation. Demitras, 35, of Pine Township, could have faced more than 17 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to three counts of involuntary manslaughter among other charges and acknowledged that the wood-chipper was not properly hooked up to his truck before he left work on April 13, 2006.
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Actor Lane Garrison pleaded guilty Monday to several alcohol-related driving charges, including vehicular manslaughter, in connection with the December death of a popular Beverly Hills High School student, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. The former star of the Fox drama, “Prison Break” could face up to six years and eight months behind bars after admitting responsibility for the accident in which 17-year-old Vahagn Setian was killed and two 15-year-old girls were seriously injured, the article stated.

The 27-year-old actor was driving his 2001 Land Rover when it crashed into a tree on South Beverly Drive near Olympic Boulevard just before midnight on Dec. 2. The three teenagers were passengers in Garrison’s SUV. Authorities said the vehicle was traveling at more than 40 mph in a 25-mph zone. At the time of the accident, Beverly Hills police questioned Garrison but did not arrest him. Blood tests subsequently showed the actor was driving under the influence of cocaine and had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit, the Times article said.

Police had recommended charging Garrison with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, which could have increased his potential prison time to 14 years, but prosecutors did not find grounds for that charge. Garrison pleaded guilty on Monday to one felony count of driving under the influence, causing injury to multiple victims, and one misdemeanor count of providing alcohol to a minor. He also admitted causing great bodily injury and death and driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.15%.
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Mark Lee Cummings claims he doesn’t remember the crash that took the life of Rudy Mora back in 2005. Cummings, who was driving his maroon van on a suspended license, struck Rudy and then left the scene. A short time later the police found Cummings and arrested him. According to the Orange County Register, when Mark Cummings was arrested he had several bottles of beer in his van – including a half-empty bottle of beer in the car’s cup holder.

But, this wasn’t Cummings first DUI! Remarkably, between the years of 2000-2004 Cummings had 4 DUI convictions, and he was still driving his van! Finally, this past Monday Cummings was convicted of second-degree murder for hitting a bicyclist while driving drunk and then fleeing the scene. Additionally, Cummings was convicted of the additional charges of driving on a suspended license, hit and run involving an injury, and driving under the influence with two or more past convictions.
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A woman and five other people, including at least three children, were killed Tuesday after their sport utility vehicle got hit by an Amtrak train when the vehicle got caught on the train tracks in Riverbank, a city 10 miles northeast of Modesto, according to an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maricruz Corral, 23, was driving five other people in her Chevrolet Tracker when eastbound traffic on Claribel Road slowed, forcing her to stop on the train tracks, said California Patrol Officer Tom Killian. Witnesses told officials that exactly when the SUV was stopped on the tracks, an Amtrak train approached the crossing and the warning gate lowered. Corral attempted to back up off the tracks, but one of the crossing arms hit her rear window and bounced back up, Killian said.

She hesitated for a moment and the vehicle rolled forward onto the tracks. Officials believe Corral panicked and that her foot possibly came off the brake causing the vehicle to roll back on to the tracks. Officials dismissed earlier reports that the incident was a suicide. Officials believe that there were two young boys in car seats in the SUV as well as another young boy and two female passengers in addition to Corral.
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Medical examiner, Michael Graham, revealed that St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, Josh Hancock, was drunk when he died in a car accident a week ago. Graham indicated in a press conference that Hancock was almost twice the legal blood alcohol limit when he crashed into the back of a tow truck that happened to be on the side of the road helping another driver. The tow truck driver was not injured, but Hancock, who was not wearing a seat beat died within seconds of impact from severe head and chest injuries, according to the medical examiner. Additionally, Police Chief Joe Makwa found marijuana and a glass pipe which is used to smoke marijuana inside of Hancock’s Ford Explorer, although toxicology tests have yet to determine if Hancock had drugs in his system at the time of the crash.

It also seems that Hancock was involved in another traffic accident the week before his death on April 26th. Shortly before that accident an unidentified couple, who were present at a steakhouse where Hancock was eating, indicated that he seemed to be drinking heavily and was impaired. They also claimed that they overheard Hancock telling ESPN broadcaster, Dave Campbell, that he [Hancock] had been in big trouble with Tony La Russa, Cardinal manager, because he was late to a game and too ‘hung over’ to play. This account was denied by La Russa who had his own brush with a DUI in March in Florida. La Russa also stated that he would have known if Hancock had a problem, because anyone with a drinking or drug problem could not perform at the level Hancock performed. Hey La Russa, why don’t you tell that to Hancock’s family!
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Derek Kieper-what a waste of a young life! Derek Kieper was a 4.0 GPA Senior carrying five majors in economics, history, sociology, psychology, and political science when he died after a Ford Explorer, in which he was a passenger, rolled several times ejecting him from the car in January 2005. Two other young men in the car, the driver and the front seat passenger, were wearing their seatbelts and they escaped with non-life threatening injuries.

Interestingly, Derek was not only a columnist for the Daily Nebraskan, but he defied the government’s intrusion into what he called his individual personal freedoms when he wrote in one of his columns a year before his death that, “…if I want to be the jerk that flirts with death and rides around with my seatbelt off, I should be able to do that..”

Derek also railed against the Click-it or Ticket campaign to promote the new seat belt laws, scoffing at the fact that those commercials threatened that officer Joe Friendly would be pulling them over for a ticket if they didn’t adhere to wearing their seat belts.
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Two drivers speeding on the 710 Freeway triggered a multi-vehicle wreck Monday afternoon that killed two and critically injured three others, while shutting down a portion of the Long Beach Freeway for several hours, according to a news report in the Los Angeles Times.

The crash, which occurred north of the Firestone Boulevard exit, snarled freeway traffic for several miles as crews worked for hours to pull the victims out of their vehicles and clear the mess. The crash involved three big rigs, a two-axle box truck and a red Nissan compact carrying four passengers.

Investigators determined late Monday that the crash was caused by a speeding Ford pickup and a Mustang convertible. The driver of the pickup, Armando Casares, 35, of Long Beach, was arrested for investigation of hit and run. Casares was being held on two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, reckless driving and hit-and-run, all felonies.

Authorities were still seeking the driver of the Mustang. The names of the victims, all adults, have not yet been released.

The Nissan was pinned beneath one of the big rigs, and it took rescuers more than an hour after the 12:29 p.m. wreck to extricate the two women in the car and the driver of one of the big rigs, according to the article. Both women were seated on the right side of the car — one in front and one in the back — and were pronounced dead at the scene. The car’s driver and the man seated behind him were also critically injured, as was the trapped driver of one of the trucks.
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