According to the Press Enterprise, Charlie Wolcott, 55, has been in a coma since being hit by a car at Sixth and Victoria streets in Corona after a driver ignored a crosswalk in July 2006.  On the second anniversary of the accident, Diane Ward, Wolcott’s sister, launched Charlie’s Cause, a crosswalk sting that resulted in 41 citations to drivers failed to stop.  She is pursuing tougher legislation and similar operations for pedestrian safety

Wolcott was among 2,953 pedestrian’s hit by vehicles from 2006 to 2008 in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to data from the CHP.  277 of those crashes were fatal.

Since 2006, Riverside has ranked first in Riverside County with 281 pedestrians hit.  Moreno Valley has ranked second with 134 pedestrians hit and Corona has ranked third with 109 pedestrian collisions.  In San Bernardino County, the city of San Bernardino ranked first with 240 pedestrian collisions followed by Ontario and Fontana, which both had 151.

Unincorporated regions accounted for a large number of pedestrian collisions and fatalities in both counties. Riverside County had 269 pedestrian collisions with 44 fatalities.  San Bernardino recorded 227 collisions in unincorporated regions stretching into the High Desert.

According to the CHP, some of the most severe incidents have occurred on interstates and highways.  In San Bernardino County, 37 people were hit on I-15, which leads in that county.  Interstates 15 and 10 led San Bernardino County in pedestrian crashes. In Riverside County, there were 30 freeway crashes on Highway 60 and Interstates 15, 215 and 10.

Lighted crosswalks as well as flashing lights and tones have been installed in high populated areas in cities such as Corona, Rancho Cucamonga and Riverside. 

According to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Upland doctor Vinod Patwardhan was recently found guilty of one count of conspiracy, three counts of smuggling and two counts of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud or mislead.  While he could have received up to 71 years in federal prison, he was sentenced to five years probation (nine months of which would be house detention), the lightest possible sentence, but at least one civil case is being pursued against him and his license could be investigated by the Medical Board of California. 

The family of Veronika Lind, a former patient of Patwardhan that died in his care, is suing the doctor, accusing him of medical malpractice, wrongful death, willful misconduct, elder abuse and fraud.  According to the family’s attorney, the family is outraged at the punishment Patwardhan received.

According to the Union Democrat, Bruce Miller, 51, of Sonora was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle.  According to the CHP, the accident happened about 7:30 a.m. at Mono Way and Tuolumne Road.  The vehicle, a 1996 Mercury Tracer, was being driven by James Waer, 54.  Miller was turning onto westbound Mono Way from Tuolumne when Waer ran a red light and struck Miller’s bike.  The CHP said that the sun was in Waer’s eyes.

Miller suffered major left-leg injuries.  He was taken by ambulance to Sonora Regional Medical Center.

According to the PR Web, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Caltrans, Holly Ann Lee, Gaylene Lee, Victoriana Vazquez and Miguel Alvarez for the death of Kimberly Ann Downes.  California personal injury lawyers of BISNAR|CHASE filed suit against Caltrans, Holly Ann Lee, Gaylene Lee, Victoriana Vazquez and Miguel Alvarez.  The action was brought against the defendants by James R. Downes and Myung Sun Kim, Kimberly’s parents who are seeking economic and non-economic damages for the wrongful death. 

The suit alleges that on February 13, 2009 at approximately 3:30 a.m. Kimberly Ann Downes, age 22,  was driving to work in her 2002 Hyundai Sante Fe within the speed limit on SR-60 in the city of Diamond Bar.  For unknown reasons, she swerved to the left, struck the center concrete median wall and overturned into the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane.  Thereafter, Holly Ann Lee, driving a 2007 Toyota Yaris, struck Downes’ Hyundai.  At that time, Downes was standing outside of her Hyundai.  Following this collision, Victoriana Vazquez, driving a 2003 Jeep Liberty struck Downes, who may have been thrown into the eastbound lanes of SR-60.  Downes was fatally injured.  The plaintiffs contend that the dangerously dark conditions and poor line-of-sight visibility prevented defendants Lee and Vazquez from seeing Downes and her vehicle so as try and avoid with her.

The plaintiffs also contend that Holly Ann Lee was negligent since she was driving at an excessive and unsafe speed and allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. The plaintiffs further allege that Vazquez was driving at an excessive and unsafe speed when she struck Downes.  Gaylene Lee and Miguel Alvarez are named as owners of the vehicles involved in the collisions.

The suit alleges that Caltrans was responsible because of the lack of lighting on the HOV lane; that they were negligent in their duty to provide a safe public roadway; and that they failed to ensure that the double armed center median lights east of the Grand Avenue overpass near SR-60 were turned on at the time of the accident.  Further, it is alleged that the dangerous conditions precipitated the several collisions that resulted in Downes death.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty in the 2008 crash that killed a passenger and seriously injured his wife in Ojai.

Avary, the co-writer of “Pulp Fiction” and “Beowulf”, plead guilty in August to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and other charges stemming from the January 13, 2008 crash. According to investigators, Avary, 44, was at the wheel of a Mercedes sedan that was traveling at more than 100 mph when it crashed into a telephone pole.

The passenger, Andreas Zini, 34, and his wife, are from Italy and were visiting the Avarys while on their honeymoon. Zini was killed in the accident and Avary’s wife, Gretchen, was ejected from the vehicle and suffered serious injuries.

Avary and Quentin Tarantino co-wrote “Pulp Fiction” and took home an Academy Award in 1994. Avary also co-wrote the screenplay for 2007′s fantasy hit “Beowulf.”

According to the Associated Press, the bankruptcy court judge overseeing certain Chrysler assets has approved a $24 million settlement in the death of California longshoreman, Richard Mraz, 38, who was run over by a 1992 Dodge Dakota on April 13, 2004.  Mraz suffered fatal head injuries.  Attorneys for Mraz’s family argued that the truck slipped into reverse after Mraz got out.  Both sides in the lawsuit said he had left the truck running without setting the parking brake, but they differed on who was to blame for the accident.

Chrysler had issued a recall in 2000 after receiving more than 1,000 “park-to-reverse” complaints involving 1988 through 2003 model Dakotas.  The recall issued by Chrysler was for repairs that failed to fix the problem.  The family argued that the vehicle had a defect that made it appear trucks were in park position when they actually were between gears.  However, DaimlerChrysler argued that Mraz failed to follow proper safety procedures. 

In March 2007, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found that DaimlerChrysler was negligent in the truck’s design and failed to warn consumers or adequately recall the vehicle.  The jurors awarded $55 million in damages to the family of Richard Mraz.  In April, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy delaying an appeal of the jury verdict.  This delay led to negotiations that resulted in settlement.  The settlement was then approved by U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Martin Burt Kuehl, 42, a motorist from Costa Mesa, was ordered to stand trial for vehicle manslaughter with gross negligence after he allegedly killed a pedestrian minutes after he was texting on his cellphone in the car.  If convicted of manslaughter, he faces up to nine years in prison. 

The pedestrian, Martha Ovalle, a Guatemalan immigrant working as a nanny in Newport Beach was struck at about 8:30 a.m. on Westcliff Drive near Dover Drive in Newport Beach.  The accident occurred on August 29, 2008.

Kuehl’s attorney argues that there is no evidence he was texting at the time of the crash.  An Orange County judge rejected a defense request to reduce charges to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence.  While prosecutors acknowledge that they have no company records to prove that he was texting at the moment of impact, they said that Kuehl’s use of the phone and other factors suggest he was acting negligently and didn’t see the pedestrian. 

The state outlawed texting while driving last year and since then there has been a growing national debate.  According to the Deputy District Attorney, phone records showed Kuehl text messaging for about 30 minutes before his car struck Ovalle.  She was crossing the street at a marked crosswalk.  Kuehl stated to police that the sun was in his eyes.

According to one witness’s account to police, a driver behind Kuehl had to honk to get him to notice the green light.  Kuehl’s phone was found open following the accident.

The Los Angles Times reported that the CHP has recommended that manslaughter charges be considered against La Habra police officer, Nancy Garcia.  Garcia sped through a red light while responding to an emergency in April.  She broadsided a car, killing a husband and wife.

The CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation team recommended filing charges against Officer Garcia and presented the case to the Orange County district attorney’s office on Wednesday.

According to the Los Angeles Times, in August 2009, $7.4 million was awarded to a child who suffered severe brain damage as an infant after doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center failed to promptly treat an infection.

The child, Paris Campen, was a little more than a month old at the time of the incident.  Attorney’s for Paris argued that doctors at the hospitals neonatal intensive care unit were negligent when they failed to administer antibiotics to Paris until eight hours after she began to show symptoms indicating an infection.

Paris, now 5, eventually developed meningitis, which caused permanent brain damage, attorney Diane Corwin said.  Paris now has a permanent shunt in her brain to drain excess fluids and needs physical and behavioral therapy, according to her mother, Angelique Campen.

Angelique Campen is an emergency room physician at UCLA Medical Center.  She said that she questioned measures taken by the doctor but was repeatedly ignored.

On September 24, 2009 the Los Angeles Times reported that eleven California hospitals have been fined $25,000 each in administrative penalties for violations that, in some cases, have let to death or serious injury.  The list includes eight hospitals in Southern California.

At Coast Plaza in Norwalk, state investigation records show that two surgical clamps were left in a patient during surgery in December 2008.  The patient had to return to the emergency room weeks after being sent home with an infection and doctors had to operate a second time to remove the clamps.  One of the nurse’s responsible was placed on three months probation, the staff was retrained and new policies were issued for keeping track of surgical instruments.

Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica was fined for failing to follow surgical procedures.  During an eyelid surgery on December 9, 2008 a patient was burned in the face by a fire that erupted from overheated cauterizing equipment.  The staff was retrained and tested on fire prevention.  Further, the hospital clarified rules for using cauterizing equipment in combination with oxygen during operations.

A 53-year-old patient died on April 23, 2008 at Kindred Hospital in Ontario after pulling out the tracheotomy tube that allowed him to breathe. Records show the man had pulled out his breathing tube the day before he died during a family visit, but a nurse reinserted it. Records showed no one was assigned to monitor him after the doctor had requested it. Hospital officials retrained staff and reviewed their procedures in response to the investigation.  

A woman had to undergo a second surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center to remove a surgical sponge left behind during a liver transplant on August 14, 2008.  After the state investigated, hospital staff was retrained and an audit was performed on a monthly count of a random sample of their surgical instrument, revealing no further errors.

According to the article, the following hospitals received penalties:  Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, Coast Plaza Doctors Hospital in Norwalk, Kindred Hospital in Ontario, Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, Los Angeles County/University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Mendocino Coast District Hospital in Fort Bragg, Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna, Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in Chula Vista, Tri-City Hospital District in Oceanside, USC University Hospital in Los Angeles