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Fairfield: Driver Arrested in Double-Fatal DUI Crash on I-80

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Fairfield Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

A Sacramento woman was arrested after a drunk driving accident that killed two people on I-80 in Fairfield.

A 42-year-old Sacramento woman was arrested early Sunday morning after a drunk driving accident that caused the deaths of two people on Interstate 80 in Fairfield.

• A drunk driver slammed into the rear of an SUV, sending it across the freeway. The SUV crashed into the center divider, rolled over, and landed upside-down in traffic.

• The driver and one of the passengers got out of the SUV and were trying to help the fourth passenger get out when an approaching vehicle crashed into the SUV and hit the two men. Both of them died at the scene.

• The drunk driver was arrested on felonly DUI charges as well as possession of a loaded gun in her vehicle.

The California Highway Patrol received a call about the crash at 5:23 a.m., according to a report in the Fairfield Daily Republic.

The CHP said Michelle Henry was driving a 2008 Buick Lucerne at a high rate of speed on westbound I-80 when she slammed into the rear of a 1997 Ford Explorer driven by 33-year-old Anthony Andrade. Both vehicles were in the No. 4 lane, just east of Air Base Parkway.

The Buick overturned on the right-hand shoulder and rolled into the trees and bushes alongside the freeway. The Explorer veered across all of the westbound lanes and crashed into the center divider. It overturned and rolled into the No. 2 lane, where it landed on its roof.

Andrade and one of his passengers, 25 year-old Vincente Santos, got out of the Explorer to help another passenger, 33-year-old Floyd Williams Jr., get out of the vehicle. But a Toyota Corolla, driven by 25-year-old Michael Soto, approached the wreck and was not able to avoid crashing into the mangled rear end of the Explorer.

The impact threw Santos into the westbound traffic lanes. He and Andrade both died at the scene.

Williams was transported by ambulance to North Bay Medical Center in Fairfield, where he was treated for minor injuries, according to the CHP. Soto was taken to Kaiser Hospital in Vacaville, also with minor injuries.

All of the men were from Sacramento.

Henry was taken to North Bay Hospital where she was treated for minor injuries and released to police custody, according to the Dixon Patch news site. She was arrested and charged with felony drunk driving and possession of a loaded firearm in her vehicle.

All westbound lanes of I-80 were closed for three hours while emergency crews cleared the scene and officers conducted a preliminary investigation.

Fairfield Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented drunk driving accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Tags: auto accident, Blackman Legal Group, California accident lawyer, California accident lawyers, car accident, car accident lawyer, Clifford Blackman, drunk driving accident, drunk driving death, drunk driving fatalities, fatal accident, fatal collision, fatal drunk driving accident, fatal DUI crash, freeway crash, wrongful death
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CHP Probe: How Did Aptos Teen Get Booze Before Fatal DUI Crash?

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

State officials are investigating how a teen got alcohol before a fatal drunk driving crash Friday night near Watsonville.

• A teen suspected of drunk driving lost control when she crossed a double-yellow line to pass another vehicle on a two-lane road. Her car crashed into a tree.

• One of her six passengers died at the scene. The other five were hospitalized.

• The driver was hospitalized with major injuries and arrested on charges of drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

• State alcohol officials are looking into how the teen got the alcohol.

The accident occurred at about 11:30 p.m., according to a report in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The driver, 19-year-old Erica Shanice Duran of Aptos, was driving a 1993 Honda sedan on San Miguel Canyon Road in Royal Oaks, about 5 miles east of Watsonville. She had six passengers in her car.

Duran was traveling at high speed when she crossed a double yellow line to pass another vehicle, witnesses told the California Highway Patrol.

“A witness who was driving behind the Honda said the Honda attempted to pass another vehicle (on) a blind curve,” CHP officer Robert Lehman told KSBW News.

Duran lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a tree. One of her passengers, 21-year-old Joshua Perez of Salinas, was killed, Lehman said.

Two passengers were sitting on other people’s laps and did not have seat belts on because there were not enough seats, Lehman said. One passenger 21-year-old Gina Morgan, suffered major injuries and was airlifted via helicopter to San Jose Valley Medical Center.

Two other passengers, 24-year-old Timothy Garza of Salinas and 19-year-old Selena Sanchez of Watsonville, also suffered major injuries and were taken by ground ambulance to a Salinas hospital. A 17-year-old female passenger had moderate injuries, and 19-year-old Able Perez of Salinas sustained minor injuries.

Duran sustained major injuries as well. She was hospitalized and then arrested on charges of drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter. Now the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control wants to know where she got the alcohol she drank before she got behind the wheel. If investigators finds that an adult or an ABC-licensed business provided the alcohol to Duran, charges could be filed against them.

Duran’s Facebook status updates don’t help her case.

On Friday at 3 p.m., she posted: “Inbox full of parties. Let’s see what Friday da 13 has in store 4 me.”

At 9:34 p.m., she used a mobile phone to post: “Let’s chug dis bottle.”

The status updates were deleted on Monday, and were replaced with another message insisting that Duran was not drunk at the time of the accident, the KSBW report stated.

“Thank you everyone, I’m in the ICU. I hope everything is okay and I’m sorry,” Duran wrote. ”I wasn’t drunk for those who think I was. I’m glad I have my family and friends and my boyfriend.

California Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

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Gilroy Woman Arrested in DUI Crash That Killed Husband, Daughter

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Police arrested Stacy Lonnberg (inset) for a DUI crash that killed her husband and daughter. (Photo: ABC News | Inset: Gilroy Dispatch)

Police arrested a Gilroy woman Saturday for a drunk driving accident that killed her husband and daughter.

• A drunk driver was speeding on Highway 85 with her husband, daughter, and grandchild in her vehicle.

• She attempted and unsafe lane change and sideswiped another vehicle. Then she overcorrected and her own vehicle rolled several times.

• Her husband and daughter died. She and her grandson suffered minor injuries.

• The drunk driver was arrested on felony DUI charges and felony vehicular manslaughter.

The fatal crash occurred at around 3:45 p.m. on Highway 85 in Los Gatos, according to a report in the Gilroy Dispatch.

The California Highway Patrol said 51-year-old Stacey Lonnberg was driving a 2002 Toyota Tacoma pickup northbound on the highway near Winchester Boulevard when she attempted “an unsafe lane change at a high rate of speed.”

She sideswiped a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and then overcorrected to get back into her lane. That caused the Toyota pickup truck to roll over several times before it crashed to a stop.

Lonnberg’s daughter, 16-year-old Tiffiny Gillette, was riding in the back seat without a seat belt. She was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.

Lonnberg’s husband, 67-year-old Fred Lonnberg, was wearing a seat belt but was trapped in the front passenger seat after being partially thrown from the vehicle, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News. Paramedics extricated him from the pickup truck and rushed him to Valley Medical Center in San Jose with major injuries. He died from his injuries shortly before 11 p.m., the CHP reported.

Gillette’s young son Ethan was riding in the back seat. He suffered scrapes on his feet, CHP Officer D.J. Sarabia said. Most of the news reports said the boy is 1 year old and was riding in a booster seat meant for an older toddler, but a family friend who said she is the boy’s godmother told the Dispatch he is 3 years old. His true age was not confirmed by authorities.

Stacy Lonnberg sustained minor injuries, according to the CHP. She was taken into custody by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and charged with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and felony vehicular manslaughter, according to an ABC News report.

No one in the Silverado was injured.

Los Gatos Car Accident Lawyers

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Woodland: 1 Dead, 3 Injured in Solo DUI Crash on I-5

Monday, January 9th, 2012

A passenger was killed in a single-car DUI crash on I-5 in Woodland. (Photos: Woodland Daily Democrat)

A 22-year-old man was charged with felony drunk driving and manslaughter Friday night after a violent single-vehicle car accident on Interstate 5 in Woodland killed one of his passengers. The other two passengers suffered major injuries.

• A 22-year-old drunk driver lost control of his vehicle as he exited the freeway.

• The car flipped over and rolled several times, ejecting all three passengers. All of them were in their early 20s.

• One of the passengers died at the scene. The other two were hospitalized with major injuries.

• The drunk driver was airlifted to a hospital with major injuries. He was later arrested and charged with felony DUI and manslaughter.

The fatal DUI crash occurred at 9:44 p.m., according to a report in the Woodland Daily Democrat.

The California Highway Patrol’s preliminary investigation revealed that Ryan S. Baird of Sacramento was driving a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse southbound on I-5 at the time of the accident.

Baird lost control of the vehicle on the on the County Road 102 off-ramp at an unknown rate of speed. The car veered onto the shoulder, flipped over, and rolled several times before it landed upside down, on its roof.

None of the three passengers were wearing seat belts. All of them were ejected from the vehicle when it rolled.

Emergency crews from the CHP, Woodland Fire Department, Woodland Police Department and Yolo County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene within a couple of minutes.

Paramedics attempted to resuscitate passenger Robert Dale Sunderland III, a 25-year-old Woodland resident, but he died at the scene.

Passenger Saeed Rodriguez, a 22-year-old Woodland resident, suffered a broken arm and a head injury. Passenger James D. L. Black, a 21-year-old who also is a Woodland resident, suffered a broken leg. They were taken to U.C. Davis Medical Center to be treated.

Baird suffered multiple facial lacerations. He also was taken to U.C. Davis Medical Center. Early reports indicated that he was flown by helicopter to the hospital. It was not clear whether the two surviving passengers were flown to the hospital or transported via ground ambulance.

CHP officers later arrested Baird. He was charged with at least two felonies, including driving under the influence and manslaughter.

Woodland is about 17 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Fatal Drunk Driving Accident Statistics

Almost 11,000 people die every year in drunk driving car accidents on U.S. roads, according to federal government statistics published by the non-profit group Alcohol Alert. Drunk driving deaths account for more than a third of all U.S. traffic fatalities.

Many people believe drunk drivers fare better than their victims on the road, but that is not true. Almost two-thirds of those who are killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes are drunk drivers.

Drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes are typically not first-time offenders. Statistics show they are eight times more likely to have a prior drunk driving conviction than other drivers involved in fatal accidents.

More than half of drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents have levels of alcohol in their blood that are twice the legal limit — or more.

Woodland Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

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Quincy: Marijuana Suspected in Hwy 70 Crash That Killed Chico Mom

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Police believe marijuana may have played a role in a fatal car accident near Quincy. (Photo: Plumas County News)

Marijuana may have been a factor in a fatal car accident Thursday on a remote stretch of Highway 70 near Quincy.

• A Chico woman lost control of her car in icy conditions on a remote stretch of Highway 70.

• The car spun out, went down an embankment, rolled and crashed into a tree.

• The driver died. Her passenger suffered major injuries.

• Police found evidence of marijuana and are waiting for test results to determine whether the driver was impaired.

The deadly single-vehicle highway crash occurred at about 4:45 a.m., according to a report in the Plumas County News.

The California Highway Patrol said 37-year-old Kelly M. Larocca of Chico was driving a 2007 Honda Accord westbound on Highway 70 near Squirrel Creek Road when the accident happened.

The mountain road was intermittently icy, the CHP said. Overhead signs flashed warnings about the icy conditions.

Larocca was traveling at an unknown rate of speed when the Honda spun out on a curve west of the Spring Garden overpass, according to the CHP report. The car skidded off of the south shoulder of the highway and dropped 15 feet down an embankment before it hit the ground and rolled over.

Larocca died at the scene.

Her passenger, 47-year-old Michael S. Foster of Chico, suffered a serious head injury and abdominal injuries. He was transported to Plumas District Hospital to be treated. The severity of his injuries and his condition were not reported.

CHP officers who responded to the scene smelled concentrated odor of burnt marijuana, but were waiting for toxicology results to determine whether or not LaRocca had been under the influence while driving.

Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana

The latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that almost 9 percent of all U.S. drivers on the road at night are high on marijuana, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

In California, nearly 1,000 deaths and injuries each year are caused by drugged drivers, according to CHP data. The number of deaths in which drugs were the primary cause — when alcohol was not involved – increased 55 percent between 1999 and 2009. Law enforcement authorities attribute much of the spike in fatalities specifically to marijuana.

“Marijuana is a significant and important contributing factor in a growing number of fatal accidents,” Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy in the White House and former Seattle police chief, told the Times. ”There is no question, not only from the data but from what I have heard in my career as a law enforcement officer.”

The medical marijuana movement has gained speed but most states — including California — have no formal standard of what constitutes impairment for a driver.

“A lot of effort has gone into the study of drugged driving and marijuana, because that is the most prevalent drug, but we are not nearly to the point where we are with alcohol,” NHTSA impaired driving director Jeffrey P. Michael told the Times. “We don’t know what level of marijuana impairs a driver.”

California Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

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