Car Accident Category Archives

Jury Finds Police at Fault in Woman’s Death After High Speed Chase

November 15, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Maria Gaglione, 24, from Pittsburg, died after the car she was a passenger in during a high-speed chase with police in a stolen car. Her parents assert she did not know the car had been stolen 2 days earlier and was not participating in the flight from law.

Jurors at a coroner’s inquest ruled the death was not an accident and was caused by the police in a negligent and dangerous chase. The father of the victim spoke out in agreement with the decision. Two Clayton sheriff’s deputies, chased the car at speeds of over 80 MH in an area designated at 25 MPH in Concord. The driver of the stolen car was Amy Fiasconaro, 32, of Antioch. She lost control of the car and hit a wall at 109 MPH. She also hit a tree on Myrtle Drive in front of Myrtle Farm Montessori School. The roof of the car smashed Gaglione in the passenger seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Fiasconaro was found a few feet away crawling around on her hands and knees. She first said Gaglione was driving. Fiasconaro was found to have heroin and methamphetamine in her bloodstream.

Coroner’s inquests are held in all officer-involved or in-custody deaths in Contra Costa County. They are publicly held to determine cause of death. Findings cannot be appealed. They have no criminal or civil implications. Gaglione’s death was said to have been caused by someone’s negligence and not an accident. Her father feels the police were at fault and should be fired and imprisoned.

Seat Covers and Airbags Are a Deadly Mix

November 11, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Many consumers choose aftermarket car seat covers to keep the seats of their car fresh. For people with side airbags, however, this could be a deadly choice.

Add-on seat covers do not hold the attraction to car buyers that they used too. Our car seats are still getting daily wear and tear and the occasional drop of ketchup or drip of coffee but less car owners are opting for seat covers. One reason is the safety issues related to seat-side airbags.

Seat-mounted side airbags are in most modern automobiles. They are most often found under the factory seat-back covers, nearest the doors on both outboard sides of the front seats. They are identified by the labels sewn into the side of the seat panel. An explosive canister is lodged inside geared to inflate airbags in the event of a crash.

Jury Finds Police at Fault in Woman’s Death After High Speed Chase

July 9, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Maria Gaglione, 24, from Pittsburg, died after the car she was a passenger in during a high-speed chase with police in a stolen car. Her parents assert she did not know the car had been stolen 2 days earlier and was not participating in the flight from law.

Jurors at a coroner’s inquest ruled the death was not an accident and was caused by the police in a negligent and dangerous chase. The father of the victim spoke out in agreement with the decision. Two Clayton sheriff’s deputies chased the car at speeds of over 80 MH in an area designated at 25 MPH in Concord. The driver of the stolen car was Amy Fiasconaro, 32, of Antioch. She lost control of the car and hit a wall at 109 MPH. She also hit a tree on Myrtle Drive in front of Myrtle Farm Montessori School. The roof of the car smashed Gaglione in the passenger seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Fiasconaro was found a few feet away crawling around on her hands and knees. She first said Gaglione was driving. Fiasconaro was found to have heroin and methamphetamine in her bloodstream.

Coroner’s inquests are held in all officer-involved or in-custody deaths in Contra Costa County. They are publicly held to determine the cause of death. Findings cannot be appealed. They have no criminal or civil implications. Gaglione’s death was said to have been caused by someone’s negligence and not an accident. Her father feels the police were at fault and should be fired and imprisoned.

Officer Involved Car Crash that Killed Baby Cost Sacramento $9.75 Million

June 20, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Sacramento has agreed to pay $9.75 million to the parents of a 9-month-old boy who was killed after his parent’s car was rear-ended by an undercover police car. The parents and their young son were on Interstate 80 during heavy traffic hours. An off-duty police officer and his children in a Ford Explorer belonging to the police department hit the back end of their car at roughly 60 MPH. Young Raiden Saechao was correctly strapped into his car seat but died several days later from severe head trauma.

The accident occurred in December of 2013. The couple had suffered several miscarriages as well as the death of a newborn before having Raiden. A court battle began and lasted three years before the city settled for almost 10 million dollars. Prosecutors chose not to file criminal charges. The lawsuit claimed that the officer’s distracted driving caused the death of the child. Officer Greg Mark Halstead is still employed by the police department and denies all allegations brought in the lawsuit. The city claimed the officer was not working at the time of the accident. The parents say they will donate a portion of the money to raising awareness of distracted driving.

What Car Accidents Can do to Your Insurance Costs

October 20, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Many drivers do not fully understand what huge impact car accidents have on the cost of their insurance. It is easy to understand why your own wrecks increase your rates, but harder to comprehend the correlation of the nation’s crash rate and insurance costs. What’s more, there are specific types of car accidents that happen more often than others and make the biggest impact on car insurance costs. Not only do your own accidents influence your car insurance rates, but those in the community around you, especially if they are one of these five specific types.

Five Most Common Types of Car Accidents in the United States

While the specific circumstances will vary, there are five different types of accidents that happen repeatedly in the United States. A large majority of these accidents are minor and end up in nothing more than a few dents and bruises. Unfortunately, a smaller percentage end tragically in a death or with serious and life-altering injury. Any accident can be deadly. The five most common types of car accidents are:

Why Wont My Insurance Cover My Auto Accident?

August 31, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Car insurance can be hard to understand. What makes it even harder is that you don’t really know what can happen until you have an accident. The tiny fine print you skimmed over or the legal terms that you didn’t really understand can come back to haunt you at the worst possible moment. The pain and emotional stress of a car accident is overwhelming, add approximately unsettling and costly surprises from the insurance company and you have the recipe for a nervous breakdown.

Some people don’t realize it, but many of us cause our own policy cancellations and other issues that result in not as much coverage as we thought we had or not having any at all. Some things we all do, on purpose or not, that put us in danger of being without coverage. If the insurance carrier decides you’ve broken any of their diehard rules, they can drop you in a second. Some of these things are obvious to most people, others are surprising but all can have you without accident coverage.

DUI or Otherwise Impaired

Self-Driving Cars Suspended After Uber Accident

April 4, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

California is in the forefront of the self-driving car movement. Only a few U.S. cities have these little modern wonders tooling around their streets and it will take more than the recent accident to keep them off the roads despite being suspended for a few days.

An Uber self-driving Volvo moving around Tempe, Arizona was involved in a three-vehicle wreck in March of 2017 when a driver made a left turn without being able to clearly see all lanes of oncoming traffic. The Uber approached her in the one lane she could not see and the driver crashed into it. The driver, Alexandra Cole, cited that she saw the Uber coming too late to break and struck it, sending it into a light pole, bumping into two other cars and landing on its side. The Uber was in autonomous mode but did carry two Uber employees. The company has estimated the Uber’s speed was approximately 38 mph in a 40 mph zone. No one was hurt in the accident. Uber has been operating self-driving cars in the Tempe area since December of 2016 although they have been developing the technology for a shorter time than other companies.

In response to the accident, Uber shut down its self-driving car services in Tempe, Pittsburgh and San Francisco for the whole weekend. They reopened Monday after Uber execs investigated the wreck to make sure the car was in proper working order when it was hit. The accident was determined to be Cole’s fault and she was cited.

Should I Sue for My Car Accident?

March 15, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Even the smallest car accident can send your life into a tailspin. More serious accidents can affect you for a lifetime. Medical expenses due to injuries related to the accident, damage repair, loss of work… all of these things can alter your life for years if not an entire lifetime. Add to that, the stress and confusion of dealing with other drivers, insurance companies and police. Such a compendium of issues at one time is a tremendous mental strain on an individual. When all this occurs, victims often find themselves financially strapped with many unexpected bills threatening to destroy their lives. Seeking adequate compensation for injury and loss, the thought of suing for the car accident comes into existence. Several factors determine the likelihood of a successful lawsuit after a car accident.

Most often, people choose to sue after a car accident when going through the insurance process does not provide enough money to cover all the losses received as a result of the car accident. It is especially pertinent if the other driver has no insurance and you may be forced to fit the entire bill. Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence today. Insurance companies are in the business of saving themselves money and strive to pay accident victims as little as possible. There are times, however, when an insurance company will want to avoid the hassle of trial and make a settlement offer that is satisfactory. Many car insurance claims end in a settlement, sometimes however, the victim doesn’t realize until later that the settlement was inadequate.

Settlements

Statute of Limitations on Auto Accidents in California

July 6, 2015 | by Moseley Collins

When you’re in an auto accident, you might feel as if you’re being pulled in so many different directions. You’re worried about your own injuries and how they will affect your personal life and your ability to hold down a job. You might also be worried about any loved ones of yours who were also injured in the accident. Finally, your car has probably taken some serious damage, and it might be awhile before you have the money to either fix it or get a new one.

sacramento auto accident attorney What you do need to be keenly aware of, out of all these issues, is the matter of statutes of limitations. After you’re in your accident, you have a set amount of time during which you need to get your claim filed. These limitations can change how you and your insurance claims are handled. If you file a claim past the deadline, you will not be able to file a case or a claim with your insurance.

If you have a personal injury claim resulting from an accident, then you have two years to file a lawsuit with regards to auto insurance. If you have property damage to your vehicle or personal property, then you have three years for which to file a lawsuit.

Serious Auto Accident in Sonoma County, CA

June 30, 2015 | by Moseley Collins

Almost every person who works a 9-5 job or similar craves the thrill of a Saturday night. Whether you’re going out with friends to a restaurant or night club or hanging out at home with your pet and spouse, Saturday night is usually one of enjoyment, rest, and relaxation. For most people at least.

On Saturday June 8, 2015, one group of motorists did not get to enjoy their Saturday nights as much as they would have liked to. A major car crash on Arnold Drive, located just southwest of Sonoma, California, resulted in two people going to the hospital and one going to jail at the Sonoma County Jail. The California Highway Patrol responded to the incident and reported on what happened.

Just before 8:30 p.m. on that Saturday night, Eladio R. Castro Naal, a 22-year-old resident of Petaluma, drove a 2000 Dodge Neon along Arnold Drive heading north. The vehicle was said to be weaving erratically back and forth, and witnesses suspected that the driver was drunk. As the Dodge came close to the intersection at Orange, close to where Brocco’s Old Barn is located, it continued to swerve.