Sacramento car accident injures boy, driver accused of California DUI

A 14-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was dragged underneath a van while riding his bike, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said. He was dragged for about 100 feet.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Sacramento of drugs and operating a vehicle with a suspended license.

The collision is under investigation.

Sacramento DUI Lawyers:

California DUI Attorney- Manuel Barba

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West Sacramento Auto Accident Law

What started out as a traffic stop ended in a crash leaving one person injured and another in handcuffs.

West Sacramento police officers tried to pull a car over for having no front license plate. But the driver took off and ended up slamming into a power box on Reed Avenue.

A female passenger in the car was hurt.  Police say she taken to the hospital with moderate injuries.

As for the driver, police say it wasn’t the suspect’s first run-in with the law.

“He said later the reason why he fled is that he’s got multiple felony warrants which has been confirmed. He’s also possibly under the influence of alcohol,” said West Sacramento police Lt. Tod Sockman.

The suspect is now facing felony hit and run charges and possibly Sacramento, California DUI.

The  Sacramento car accident caused the signal lights to go out at one intersection.  Crews are working to repair the power box.

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Even though he was only in the 9th grade, Plaintiff was the star of his high school soccer team. In the year 2000 he excelled at all athletics and his studies came easily. College was a given as his father was a psychiatrist and his mother a college graduate.

Today, Plaintiff is not going to college. He cannot engage in athletics. He is plagued by brain damage that has produced anger, irritability, memory problems and cognitive deficits. He also suffers chronic, debilitating back pain. He has been unable to keep even the simplest full time job. What happened to Plainitff?

THE COLLISION
On January 6, 2001, Plaintiff was the rear seat passenger in a 2000 Honda Accord driven by Susan Jones. Ms. Jones was driving down Blue Jay Road. She was driving too fast for conditions and ran off the road. Her car smashed into several large trees, crushing the top and injuring both Plaintiff and Ms. Jones. The one-car accident was investigated by the California Highway Patrol, Officers Pedretti and Jong. In their report they state the following:

“Cause: P-1: (Jones) caused this collision by failing to maintain her car on the right half of the roadway, Violation 21650 VC.”

INJURIES
Plaintiff was found in the vehicle. Photographs of the Honda showed its crushed roof. He was extricated and life-flighted to UC Davis Medical Center where he was placed in the Intensive Care Unit with a severe brain injury. He was maintained in a coma for two and a half weeks to combat swelling of the brain. A CT scan taken on January 7, 2001 (the day after the collision) showed the following:

1. Left inferior parietal lobe hemorrhage of his brain near the basal ganglia.

2. Right temporal lobe hemorrhages of his brain.

3. Global cerebral edema.

4. Right posterior parietal subcortical hemorrhage of the brain.

5. Right parietal soft tissue swelling of the brain.

6. Right upper parietal subcortical hemorrhage of the brain.

7. Bilateral frontal contusions.

Plaintiff’s initial Glasgow Coma Scale in the field was 6, but dropped to 3. Normal is 15.
Plaintiff was intubated and placed on a breathing machine.

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Call it the “Sex and the City” syndrome. California is seeing a surge in young women driving drunk. Guys are still kings of drinking and driving. But DUI crashes are up more than 100 percent this decade among women ages 21 to 24, the most of any age group, according to an analysis by AAA researcher Steve Bloch.

Speaking last week at a state Office of Traffic Safety conference, Bloch tweaked trend-setting Hollywood for being the seeming epicenter. Among the young and the restless: Lindsay Lohan (twice), Paris Hilton (it was just one margarita!), Nicole Richie (wielding a black Mercedes) and Khloe Kardashian (“She’s a superstar,” her attorney said, apropos of nothing). “There seems to be a competition in Hollywood to be the first to be arrested for DUI,” Bloch joked.

But the trend is worrisome, he said. We need to know what’s behind it.

The California Highway Patrol’s Adrian Quintero was taken aback by Bloch’s findings. In teen programs, CHP officers often tell girls to take the keys from boys. “We need to change our focus,” Quintero said. “We need to get this information out.”

“If women go out drinking as a group, it’s not that women are drinking more but that women are in the driver’s seat when the car is pulled over,” de la Peña said. Lisa Couch, 25, of Sacramento and her friends do girls night out twice a month.

One friend got a DUI. It wasn’t the wake-up call it should have been, Couch said. There’s usually a designated driver. But that person doesn’t always abstain. Sometimes, “you have a drink with everybody, then it’s two drinks. Then you go, ‘uh-oh!’ ”

Police may be citing more young women, rather then letting them off with a warning. The CHP, for the record, says they’ve never treated women differently on DUI stops.

By age 30, Bloch says, drunken driving citations level out. People that age may have learned a not-so-fun fact: A drunken driving conviction in California can cost up to $10,000.

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Timothy Lamb, 48, of Olivehurst, was killed in a Sutter County, California motorcycle accident the morning of April 6, 2009 after his motorbike was struck by a sport utility vehicle, the Appeal-Democrat reports. California Highway Patrol officials say 20-year-old Tiffany Marie Fernandez was driving her Toyota sport utility vehicle east on Highway 20 and tried to turn left onto Acacia Avenue when she ended up colliding head-on with Lamb’s westbound 2009 Harley Davidson Road King motorcycle. Lamb was apparently on his way to work at nearby Sweco Products Inc., a heavy equipment manufacturer. He was pinned under the SUV and died from his injuries.

My heart goes out to Timothy Lamb’s wife, Jacki, their family members, friends and co-workers, who are clearly traumatized by his untimely death. I offer my deepest sympathies to them.

Lamb’s co-workers are calling this Sutter motorcycle crash “avoidable.” This fatal motorcycle accident is apparently causing renewed calls for a traffic signal at that busy intersection, which is also used by local high school students. Officials say Fernandez did not see the motorcycle and may have been inattentive. A CHP officer had noticed just before the accident that the motorcycle’s headlight was on. Officials also say the rising sun was not a factor in this fatal motorcycle collision.

According to the California Highway Patrol’s 2007 traffic accident statistics, there was one California motorcycle accident death and 30 injuries involving motorcycle accidents in Sutter County.

In this case, if the newspaper report is accurate, it appears that the driver of the SUV was at fault for this accident. Fernandez, while making the left turn, failed to see Lamb on his motorcycle although officials say his headlight was on.

California Vehicle Code section 21801 (a) states the following requirements for drivers making a left turn or a U-turn: “The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left or to complete a U-turn upon a highway, or to turn left into public or private property, or an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching from the opposite direction which are close enough to constitute a hazard at any time during the turning movement, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to the approaching vehicles until the left turn or U-turn can be made with reasonable safety.”

Lamb’s family would be well-advised to contact a reputed California motorcycle accident attorney who will help determine the facts of the case and hold the negligent parties accountable. A skilled California personal injury attorney will also look at other factors such as a dangerous roadway or intersection, which may have contributed to this tragic accident. If that is the case, the governmental agency responsible for maintaining that roadway could be held liable. Please remember that any claim against a California governmental agency must be filed within six months of the motorcycle accident.

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