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Vehicle Accident
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Tulane Football Player Sule Osagiede Dies In Texas Car Accident
Feb 25, 2010Houston native and Tulane football player Sule Osagiede died in a car accident in Beaumont, Texas, this week. The 19-year-old student was a sophomore who played as a true freshman last year as a linebacker but spent most of this season sitting out due to a serious neck injury.
The car accident took place at 5:30 am on Thursday morning on In-10 near 11th Street in Beaumont. Osagiede was driving a Jeep which collided with a Ford Expedition. Osagiede was thrown from the vehicle. Osagiede’s passenger, a 25-year-old man, was injured and taken to the hospital as well the 33-yaer-old driver of the other vehicle involved. According to the Beaumont Police Department, the Jeep was speeding and the Ford in front of them swung to the right in order to avoid the approaching car. The Jeep swung left and both cars rolled over. Both cars were traveling westbound.
The accident caused major traffic problems for hours after the TX car crash, with vehicles backed up into Orange County for four hours.
“The death of Sule Osagiede is a tragedy and as a parent I cannot imagine the grief and heartache being experienced by his family,” Tulane President Scott Cowen said. “My thoughts, prayers and sympathy are with them." Osagiede’s memorial service this week packed the university auditorium with friends and mourners.
He was traveling home to Houston from college at the time of the Texas car wreck.
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Man On Trial For Deadliest Car Accident Ever In Montgomery County
Feb 22, 2010Texas persecutors believe that highway racing was the cause of the deadliest traffic accident in Montgomery County history – and the trial of the Magnolia man charged with the deaths has now begun.
Texas Police say that 23-year-old Brandon Lee Ferguson was drag racing a Chevrolet Cobalt down Texas 249 on January 10, 2009. The car, which police believe was traveling at 117 miles per hour, struck a westbound minivan that was attempting a left-hand turn onto Partridge Circle. The van was carrying five people. Three occupants died in the van, which burst into flames, while one occupant was killed after being thrown from the vehicle. A fifth woman survived the Texas car accident with serious injuries.
Those that were killed in the crash include 60-year-old Donald Lee Sexton of College Station, his parents 83-year-olds Lloyd and Catherine Edwards, and Sexton’s uncle, 70-year-old Curtis Charles Edward of Pinehurst. Ferguson’s girlfriend, who was in the passenger’s seat of the Cobalt, 18-year-old Kayla Ann Pratorius, also died in the TX car accident. Another relative, Karla Kay Sexton, survived the crash with a spinal cord injury, a cracked pelvis, and a damaged liver.
Ferguson has been charged with five counts of manslaughter with a deadly weapon and one count of manslaughter with a deadly weapon. He could face $50,000 in fines and up to 20 years in jail. Ferguson’s uncle told reporters that the young man had been given the fixed-up car just days before the van accident. Witnesses say that Ferguson had been seen racing a motorcycle on the same stretch of Texas highway. - 2 - 10 -
Longview Toddler Attacked By Four Pit bulls – Mother Charged
Feb 25, 2010You should never leave a toddler unsupervised around dogs of any kind or age. This was a lesson that a Longview, Texas mother has learned in the most tragic way. Police say that the mother left her three-year-old girl to play in the backyard with a friend’s dogs. When the mother checked on the girl, she had been seriously mauled by the animals. The accident occurred around 1 pm on Monday.
Longview police say that the unnamed woman has been charged with child endangerment in the wake of the dog attack, saying that the girl was not supervised while playing with the dogs. She has not yet been arrested. The girl had been playing with four pit bull puppies – three-month-old dogs weighing between 15 and 20 pounds. The girl was rushed to Gppd Shepherd Medical Center and is being treated for serious dog bite wounds on her hands and face as well as other dog bites covering the rest of her body.
All four dogs that took part in the child dog attack have been taken to Animal Control where they remain under quarantine. The dogs’ future is unknown.
The mother claimed that she believed the dogs were harmless and that her daughter had spent time with them in the past. The dogs’ owner will not be charged for the dog attack as he was not responsible for the child’s care.
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Bonham Texas Dog Bite Case Rejects Lillian’s Law Charge
Feb 24, 2010In August 2008, two dogs belonging to 44-year-old John Hardy Taylor escaped from Taylor’s car and attacked two women. Although he was charged with the third-degree felony attack by dog, a judge dismissed these heavier charges.
Bonham police say that the Texas dog bite incident took place when two dogs jumped from Taylor’s vehicle and attacked 44-year-old Judy Pless as she got onto her bicycle in town. After bystanders scared the dogs off of the woman, they ran down the block and attacked an unidentified 11-year-old girl.
Both mauled females were airlifted to nearby hospitals – Pless to Parkland Hospital and the girl to Dallas Children’s Medical Center. Both suffered multiple wounds from the dog attacks, though Pless suffered more serious dog bites, punctures, and tears.
This week, Fannin County Judge Lauri Blake dropped the felony dog attack charges explaining that she thought the statute was vague and unconstitutional. Taylor would have been the first person to be effected by “Lillian’s Law,” which was passed in 2007 and which makes being responsible for a dog attack a felony crime involving possible jail time. In the law, the dogs must cause considerable injuries and the dog attack must take place off of the owner’s property. The owner must also fail to secure their lose dogs before the attack. Fannin County District Attorney Richard Glaser plans to appeal the ruling.
Taylor still faces two misdemeanor charges for failing to secure his dogs and for not getting rabies vaccinations for his dogs.
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San Antonio Dog Mauling Case Ends With Defendant’s Natural Death
Jan 23, 2010A San Antonio woman facing serious charges stemming from a fatal dog attack incident has died of natural causes, reports from several Texas media outlets said today. The woman, 59-year-old Irma Barrera, was facing up to 20 years in prison and $10,000 in fines after she was charged with second-degree felony for the injury of a child, baby boy Izaiah Gregory Cox.
On March 31, 2009, Barrera was caring for her 7-month-old grandson when she left the room to warm a bottle. When she returned, the boy was being attacked by her two pet pit bulls. The boy died of his dog bite wounds and Barrera was also mauled by the dogs while trying to save her grandchild. When police arrived at the scene of the dog attack, they shot and killed the vicious pit bulls in Barrera’s yard.
Barrera said that the dogs, both male and unneutered, broke through a baby gate and attacked the child as he lay on a bed. When she saw the attack, she stabbed the dogs with a knife.
An investigation revealed that Barrera was aware of her dogs’ aggressive behavior and was negligent to care for a child with the dogs present. A few years prior, a 7-year-old granddaughter was seriously injured and hospitalized by the same dogs – and Barrera even visited her in the hospital. Just weeks before the attacks, a neighbor also talked to her about the pit bulls’ dangerous behavior.
Barrera was due in court for the dog mauling trial on Monday. Barrera died in early December. - 5 - 10 -
Toyota Faces Class Action Lawsuit In Texas For Defective Accelerator
Feb 25, 2010In the weeks after a number of Toyota car recalls by the automaker, law firms from around the country and continent have been filing class action lawsuits regarding the car company’s defective auto parts and vehicles. In Texas, a Corpus Christi law firm has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of owners of Toyota models and Lexus models that have faulty throttle control problems and gas pedal issues.
Sylvia and Albert Pena III say that their 2008 Toyota Avalon accelerated through a stop sign last month, resulting in a car accident. Their lawyer says that the international car company knew about the acceleration problem but were negligent in recalling the vehicles sooner or in repairing the problem. Some believe that the defective "Electronic Throttle Control" (ETC) systems in many of Toyota’s models have been responsible for thousands of accidents and even car accident injuries and car accident deaths.
While Albert said that his accident occurred at a stop sign, Sylvia said that the car had abruptly sped up when she tried to slow down to make a turn. The couple bought their car new two years ago.
The lawsuits puts forth that the car company did away with a redundant mechanical linkage in the ETC that would prevent these types of errors from occurring.
Other similar lawsuits are being filed elsewhere – one class action Toyota lawsuit claims that the car company should have known or possibly did know about problems with the cars’ gas pedal and acceleration mechanisms. Others are seeking a full refund for their Toyotas. - 6 - 10 -
Texas Father Sues Ford For Wrongful Death Of Son After Truck Rollover
Jan 27, 2010According to the Southeast Texas record, a Marshall father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company. The wrongful death case claims that Ford’s F-350 trucks have a dangerous design flaw that led to the death of his son in a rollover truck crash. U.S. District Judge T. John Ward will reside over the court case, which was filed on January 12.
Paul Bennett, representing his deceased son, Christopher Thomas Bennett, believes that a better truck cab design could have saved his son’s life and significantly reduced injury – and that at the very least the truck should have had a warning to drivers that the cab was not able to sustain rollover accidents. His son’s truck rolled over when he veered off the road and then overcorrected.
Is the Ford F-350 crash worthy? Bennett believes that not only was the roof not crush resistant, but that the truck’s seat belt did not keep his son safely secured during the rollover. While Bennett’s Texas wrongful death attorney must admit that the truck passed federal safety standards, he will argue that those safety standards are not adequate and that the car company sold a vehicle that was unreasonably dangerous to the consumer. Recently, the Department of Transportation has been under fire for the validity of its rollover tests and rollover test standards.
Bennet is suing Ford for medical bills, pain and suffering, mental anguish, funeral expenses, loss of inheritances, loss of consortium, loss of services, past and future pecuniary loss, loss of companionship and society and pre- and post-judgment interest. - 7 - 10 -
Chrysler Recalls 24,000 Vehicles To Fix Defective Brake Part
Jan 24, 2010The troubles that mounted for Chrysler in 2009 may be following them into the New Year. Chrysler Group, LLC, will recall 24,177 of their 2010 vehicles in order to replace a defective car part that could cause sudden brake failure. This recall is expected to not only cost the company a significant amount of money, but also hurt the automaker’s already tarnished reputation and sales.
The vehicles included in the defective car part recall include 2010 Chrysler Sebring, 2010 Dodge Avenger, 2010 Dodge Nitro, 2010 jeep Liberty, 2010 Commander SUV, 2010 Grand Cherokee SUV, 2010 Dodge Ram trucks, and 2009 Dodge Ram trucks. Industry experts estimate that making the brake part fix on over 24,000 cars will cost the company $250 million.
Chrysler company officials say that the problem lies with the brake booster rod retaining clips, which are either defective and deformed or, in the case of some of the vehicles, missing altogether. The company discovered this problem during road tests and say that no car accidents or car accident injuries have been reported regarding the brake problem – even though the issue could lead to all-out and without-warning brake failures.
Many of the recalled cars have won design and safety awards, and experts say that the small size of the recall may stop most of the damage that comes with issuing a national defective car part recall, especially in light of the record-breaking Toyota recalls earlier this winter. Those inside the company hope that the recent positive press, stronger sales, and new ad campaigns will offset any negative effects of the national defective product recall.
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Texas Jury Listens To Heart Attack Medical Malpractice Evidence
Feb 24, 2010An incorrect diagnosis may have caused the death of 40-year-old Stacy Meaux, and even the doctor who attended to the woman agrees that he could have done more to save her life.
According to reports, Meaux went to the emergency room Christus St. Mary Hospital on October 2, 2007 and reported symptoms of severe chest pains. Dr. Michael Peterson performed tests on the woman and incorrectly diagnosed and treated the woman for irregular breathing and released her from the hospital despite an irregular EKG result of the two taken. While the doctor did prescribe Captopril, a drug that can help with heart problems and increase changes of survival after a heart attack, he did not keep her for observation.
On October 3, Meaux suffered from a fatal heart attack – by the time paramedics arrived at her house, she did not have a pulse and could not be resuscitated. An autopsy revealed that she had indeed died from a massive heart attack.
During testimony, Peterson said that he should have corrected a nurse’s mistake and also related a personal story about his own mother dying of a heart attack after a similar missed diagnosis.
Dr. Peterson settled a similar medical malpractice lawsuit with the family for $150,000 last summer. The family believes that the nursing staff and hospital is also to blame for not appropriately triggering the chain of command and for not correctly assessing Meaux’s health issues. Meaux had a host of other health problems, including diabetes, obesity, and a cigarette addiction. - 9 - 10 -
Thibodaux Nursing Home Worker Charged With Cruelty To The Infirmed
Jan 24, 2010An ex-nursing home worker in Thibodaux, Texas has been under fire after two allegations of nursing home abuse surfaced in the past few weeks. Thibodaux Police say that 51-year-old Nathaniel Monroe has a history of abusing nursing home patients – and say that he has been accused of grabbing an elderly man’s genitals and of placing a man in burning hot water while verbally abusing him.
Following the accusations involving nursing home residents, 90-year-old John Martinolich and 79-year-old Everett Thibodaux, both of whom resided at Thibodaux Healthcare, Monroe was fired from his job. Last year, Monroe was honored with the Employee of the Year and he has been working at nursing homes for the last 30 years caring for patients daily needs and taking vital signs.
Although neither man showed signs of nursing home physical abuse when examined by a doctor, Thibodaux police seem convinced that the man was harming patients due to statements from nursing home residents and the rest of the investigation. Martinolich had been under Monroe’s care for a year, and Monroe claims that he often complained his bath water was too hot.
Social Services Director Jerri Vaughn discovered the abuse when she heard screams coming from a bathroom during one incident. Monroe denies all allegations of nursing home physical abuse and nursing home verbal abuse. He also noted that no one told him he had been fired from his job. Vaughn did not disturb the scene of abuse or check the temperature of the water.
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