Articles Posted in Pedestrian Accidents

A man driving a white SUV ran a red light at Pacific Highway in San Diego when he struck and killed 50-year-old Garold Crosbie. After killing Crosbie, the driver sped off, fleeing the scene. The driver was later identified as 21-year-old David Dominguez, after his passenger alerted police to the incident.  This pedestrian accident occurred in the Little Italy area of San Diego.

According to Fox5 San Diego, Dominguez has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI, and fleeing the scene. He is currently being held on $1 million dollars’ bail. If convicted, Dominguez could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

Crosbie’s mother, Betty Crosbie, said that her son had been “on a good path” and that his family was proud of him. She added that nothing in court could “make our loss go away.” In this situation, it is likely that Ms. Crosbie has a case for California wrongful death damages against Dominguez for negligently causing the death of her son. While Crosbie’s family would need to speak with a California wrongful death attorney to discuss the specifics, it likely has the right to seek compensation for Crosbie’s death.

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Early Thursday morning, a 64 year old Hispanic woman was killed when she was hit by a Ford Explorer in a tragic Los Angeles wrongful death hit and run accident. According to KTLA5 News, which has a picture of the Explorer on its website, the driver of the SUV first struck a school bus. After this crash, the driver tried to flee the scene by driving over the sidewalk, where the woman was hit by the SUV.

After striking and killing the woman, the driver of the Explorer then fled the scene and has not yet been located by authorities. The Los Angeles City Council is offering a $50,000 reward for information that brings the driver of the Explorer to justice. This offer is through the Hit and Run Reward Program Trust Fund.

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The Santa Ana Police Department is looking for the driver of a vehicle that struck and killed a man on Sunday. The Santa Ana pedestrian accident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning on W. 1st Street. According to KTLA5 News, witnesses reported seeing a newer blue Honda Accord (approximately 2013-2015), with tinted windows, that apparently sped up after the accident.

The victim of this Santa Ana accident was Jorge Luis Lopez-Lobato, who was found on the center median. He was 35 years old and rescuers were not able to do anything to revive him. The investigating police offer said that Mr. Lobato was not in a crosswalk and was crossing near the middle of the block. The officer pointed out that if the driver of the vehicle had stopped, there may be no criminal charges for the accident.

However, because the driver of this car fled the scene, there will potentially be vehicular manslaughter charges if and when the driver is located by police. Police also said that the vehicle’s driver’s side mirror was knocked off and there should be damage to the front of the car from the impact.

If anyone has any information about this accident, they should call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

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Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs responding to a domestic violence call, reportedly with lights and siren on, clipped another vehicle, bounced onto the sidewalk and hit two (2) male pedestrians walking on the sidewalk on the 8800 block of Santa Monica Boulevard.  The momentum of the police vehicle was so powerful that the sheriff’s vehicle continued moving until it struck a light pole and a tree.

The Sheriff’s Department reported that the two (2) involved pedestrians were taken to the hospital where tragically one died.  The second involved pedestrian reportedly suffered very serious, but not life threatening, injuries.

There were two (2) deputies in the sheriff’s vehicle who, according to the Los Angeles Times, also were seriously injured, one of whom actually had to be extricated from his damaged vehicle by firefighters. The identities of the two (2) sheriff deputies were not immediately released.

To try to avoid an obvious conflict of interest, this pedestrian accident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol (CHP).  As a result of this accident and the following investigation by the CHP, Santa Monica Boulevard between San Vicente Boulevard and Hancock Avenue was closed to allow investigators to gather evidence.

The family of the deceased man should contact a California wrongful death lawyer right away for a free consultation.

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A possible wrongful death accident in Thousand Oaks claimed the life of a man by the name of Marc Piaskowsky, a resident of Thousand Oaks, California.  Mr. Piaskowsky was killed on Monday when he was hit by a car while crossing the street. The Thousand Oaks pedestrian accident occurred when Mr. Piaskowsky was crossing from La Paloma Circle to Avenida de los Arboles.

According to The Thousand Oaks Acorn, Mr. Piaskowsky was not crossing the street in a crosswalk, however there was a tunnel and a crosswalk nearby. It is not yet known why Mr. Piaskowsky was not using either the tunnel or crosswalk, if that information proves to be correct.

Investigators from the Thousand Oaks Police Department are investigating what factors contributed to this man getting hit by the car. If it is shown that the driver of the Lexus was operating her mobile phone, speeding, intoxicated or otherwise negligent, the family of the deceased may bring a Thousand Oaks wrongful death claim against the driver. The claim would be made with the driver’s liability insurance coverage.

Three girls were tragically killed on Friday night when they were struck by a speeding vehicle while trick or treating. According to cnn.com, the Santa Ana accident occurred when the three girls, all aged thirteen years old, were hit by a vehicle that was speeding. Two male occupants of the vehicle apparently fled the scene, but were followed by a witness. Eventually, the two men left the Honda CRV and fled the scene by foot.

The speed limit at the location of this Santa Ana wrongful death was 25 miles per hour, but apparently the vehicle might have been going approximately 50 miles per hour when it struck the girls. The Santa Ana Police Department is investigating this case and searching for the men responsible. We can only hope that the registration on the vehicle matches up with the driver, so that the driver can be brought to justice.

In many of these types of incidents, the driver of the vehicle is intoxicated, with alcohol and/or drugs, and decides that it would be better to flea the scene than to be found intoxicated at the scene. Hopefully the driver and other occupant of the vehicle will see the error in their ways and turn themselves in immediately.

As many of you know, a tragic pedestrian accident occurred on New Year’s Eve, when a driver, who was allegedly logged into Uber’s system, struck a family crossing a street. According to the Los Angeles Times, Sofia Liu’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Uber, alleging that although the driver of the car was not carrying any passengers for Uber at the time of the accident, Uber is still responsible, as the driver was working for Uber.

The California wrongful death suit alleges that because the driver was available for Uber application users to reserve him for a ride, this is Uber’s business and Uber should be held responsible. Uber, however, like most corporations and insurance companies, are looking for ways to deflect liability away from themselves, to avoid paying wrongful death damages.

Unfortunately, the law is still very unsettled when it comes to ride-sharing applications and companies, as this is a rather new service available to people in California. These companies operate by paying people to use their own vehicles to give rides, then sharing the revenue from the consumer. The California Public Utilities Commission requires that the companies, such as Uber, carry one million dollars of liability insurance coverage. However, it is not clear if that coverage kicks in only when the driver is carrying passengers, responding to calls to pick up passengers, or simply available to pick up passengers and logged into the Uber system

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