Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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On June 24, 2009, a Seattle man was killed in a pedestrian accident suspected to have been caused by a light-shaded bus that left the scene of the incident without offering assistance. Police are in search of any information from the public regarding the details of the tragic hit-and-run crash in hopes of finding those responsible for the innocent man’s death. It is possible that the accident was recorded by a security camera on the east side of the Seattle Metropolitan Tower. In a recently released police statement, it was discussed that police officers have contacted building management in hopes of acquiring the footage and possibly identify the vehicle responsible for the accident.

If anyone within the downtown Seattle area has any information or recognizes a light-colored bus, which resembles a tour bus, with a dark stripe or dark tinted windows, please don’t hesitate to notify police at 1-800-222-TIPS with any information you may have that could help lead to finding to suspected accident vehicle.

Although it is unclear at this time what exactly caused the pedestrian accident in Seattle, it serves as an example of the immense devastation one moment of negligence can cause. Wrongful death cases such as these are especially difficult for families to endure because wrongful death incidents often leave those closest to the decedent feeling confused and without any sense of closure regarding the loss of their loved one.
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Authorities say that four Washington teenagers tragically died and a fifth was critically injured in a car crash on State Highway 30 in northwest Oregon on Monday.

The teenagers were in a sport utility vehicle that was heading westbound. The vehicle collided with an eastbound van just west of Clatskanie, Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said. Dead at the scene were the female SUV driver and three passengers.

The remaining SUV passenger, an 18-year-old Ridgefield boy, was taken by Life Flight Network to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland in critical condition, Hastings said.

The van driver, whose injuries were described as serious, was a 55-year-old man from Vancouver. He was taken by ambulance to a Longview, Wash., hospital.

According to Hastings, the teens had just graduated from Ridgefield High School.
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A crash early Saturday morning outside Monroe, Washington has left two people dead. State troopers believe alcohol or other drugs may be involved.

According to troopers, shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday, a 2008 Hyundai Tiburon that was driving eastbound went off State Route 522 to the right, then veered across the center line and hit a 2001 Ford F-250 pickup truck.

Dead at the scene of the auto accident in Washington were the driver of the car, as well as the passenger. Both were men in their 20s, said a local Trooper. A second passenger in the car was listed in serious condition Sunday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
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According to the San Juan County sheriff’s office, a 15-year-old was driving a speeding car that hit a group of bicycle riders and a jogger. The jogger was killed, and a 7-year-old girl was badly injured.

Sheriff Bill Cumming said that the driver and a 17-year-old passenger had been doing some work on a 1974 Chevrolet Nova. On Sunday afternoon, they took it out for a drive on Lopez Island.

The teenage driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the pedestrians and a group of bicyclists at about 2:40 p.m. on Lopez Sound Road. A 26-year-old jogger from Abbotsford, British Columbia died at the scene of the car crash in Washington.

The 7-year-old girl who was on the bicycle had severe injuries and was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
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On Thursday, the Supreme Court in Washington State unanimously voted to reinstate a $14 million award to a family who sued a tavern and a bartender after one of the bar’s customers drove away from the establishment and crashed into their vehicle. Their 7-year-old-son is now a paraplegic due to the tragic collision.

According to information from an Associated Press article, the law states that bartenders who serve visibly intoxicated customers are liable for damages to potential victims. At question was the type of evidence needed to prove “negligent over-service”. Most states have so-called “dram shop” laws that can make taverns or bartenders – and in some states, even social hosts – liable for damages if they serve intoxicated customers who leave the premises and harm themselves or others.

It was noted by Washington State’s justices that a forensic consultant found that the bar patron likely drank the equivalent of either 21 12-ounce beers or 30 ounces of 80-proof alcohol, and probably had a blood alcohol content of 0.32 at the time of the collision. The legal blood alcohol limit in Washington State is 0.08.

The man was drinking at the Bellingham Moose Lodge, about 90 miles north of Seattle, just before the April 2000 auto accident in Washington. His girlfriend was the bartender at the lodge and served him the night of the accident.
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A full recovery is expected for a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy and his prisoner who suffered injuries in a Washington car collision that killed the other driver on Highway 2 near Snohomish.

According to a Washington State Patrol Trooper, the 35-year-old deputy is in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The prisoner who was traveling in the car with the deputy, and was on his way to jail for domestic violence, was treated for minor injuries at a hospital in Everett.

A pickup truck apparently crossed the center line and collided with the patrol car at about 4:30 a.m., said Leary. The pickup truck caught fire and burned in the accident in which the driver died at the scene.

In order to reach the deputy and the prisoner, rescuers had to cut the roof off the patrol car.
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According to KOMOnews.com, a 35-year-old Seattle man was killed Wednesday night in a bicycle accident in Seattle on Highway 99.

Apparently, the bicyclist collided with a car a little after 10pm in the southbound lanes of Highway 99 near the Dexter Avenue exit. The driver of the car is suspected of driving under the influence at the time of the accident and was taken to the hospital with injuries.

If it is determined that the driver was in fact under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident, he or she could be charged with Vehicular Homicide, RCW 46.61.520. This Washington State statute provides that if a person succumbs to injuries as a result of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, the driver can be charged.

Additionally, the family of the person killed as a result of vehicular homicide can bring a suit for Seattle wrongful death against the person charged with vehicular homicide.
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According to authorities, a father and his young son were killed in a single-engine aviation accident in Washington State. The man’s 5-year-old daughter was critically injured.

The Yakima County Coroner’s Office says that the 37-year-old man, from Yakima, Washington, and his 13-year-old son were killed in the crash that occurred Sunday afternoon.

The 5-year-old daughter suffered multiple fractures, as well as head injuries, and was first taken to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, before being airlifted to a Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center.

The rented plane, a single-engine Cessna, went down near the east end of Rimrock Lake, about 40 miles west of Yakima.

Allen Kenitzer, regional spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, says he isn’t sure of the plane’s destination or point of departure. The tragic crash is being investigated.
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The website philly.com reported in a storyon April 29, 2009 that Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation has plans to order a full departmental review of motor coach safety. This action comes a day after five people were killed when a tour bus carrying French tourists crashed in Soledad, California a small town located in Monterey County. The wrongful death accident prompted the California Highway Patrol to close highway 101 in both directions.

Spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Rae Tyson, stated that the review was issued after an April 21 hearing into a crash in Utah that killed nine people in January 2008.

In 1999 the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that the highway administration develop bus construction standards to reduce injuries during collisions and rollover accidents.

Tyson stated he expected the agency to present new bus safety policies by the end of the year.
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The website king5.com reported in an article on April 14, 2009 that the family of fifteen year old Haley Salvador wants to alert people, especially teens, not to cross Interstate 5. According to reports, Salvador had taken the shortcut countless times but the last time would prove to be a deadly one.

Niky Griffin and Daniel Leatherman accompanied their good friend Salvador the night of the dreadful pedestrian accident in Washington. They say that they went across the first time safely but on the way back Salvador took the wrong shortcut and actually cut across I-5 instead of going up the on ramp.

Griffin said, “You have to make sure cars aren’t going too fast that they could hit you. She didn’t go up the onramp. She went down it and across the freeway, which she wasn’t supposed to do. I don’t know why she went that way.”

Salvador is not the first to cross the I-5 at this juncture and will most likely not be the last. According to teens, the shortcut lessens their trip to Everett Mall by 20 minutes. With no pedestrian bridge, the shortcut entices teens to the point that they overlook their safety in order to avoid taking the long way.

Daniel Letherman said, “I live right across the freeway… and this is the fastest way unless you go all the way around. There’s no other way to get to the mall.”

Brandon Lee, Washington State Patrol said, “Running across four to five lanes, on-off ramps, it’s just not safe, especially at night, it’s really deceiving how fast people are going”.
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