Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this bus accident/personal injury case and its proceedings.)
3. Percipient non-party witness #3, Kim Perry saw Ms Chance walking “normal for an old person” in the crosswalk before a big bus turned left striking her in the center of the crosswalk. (RT of Perry’s Direct Testimony, 13:10 – 14:13.)
Argument: Like Jones, Perry was more distant and lower to the ground than Davie sitting high in the front seat of a bus with panorama window view including his left and front. (Trial Court Exhibit No. 1, Exh. 7). But for his concern about oncoming southbound traffic on Fourth Street coming from his right, there was no reason he should not have seen Chance as he approached and entered the intersection.
4. Even hearsay non-party witness #4, Petra White, in her sworn deposition, had no problem seeing Chance and indicated that the bus driver saw her as well. White reports seeing the bus start and stop several times in response to Chance stepping off and then retreating back onto the east curb before she entered the crosswalk. (White Depo., 39:14 – 41:20.) Further, White admits to seeing Chance leave the eastern curb of Fourth Street either 8, 4, or 5 feet south of the Elm Street Curb walking straight then losing sight of her due to the bus blocking her view until seeing Chance struck by the front of the bus, knocked out of her shoes and carried by the bus some distance before dropping to the street. (White Depo., 15:7-25; 20:15.)
Argument: Obviously White could see Chance and reports behavior indicating the driver saw Chance before she entered the center of the intersection where he hit her. If the court looks at Trial Photo #242 of the curb and bus, it may take judicial notice that since the record reflects the bus being approximately 10 feet wide, the painted curb next to the bus which denotes the crosswalk according to Smith’s testimony, would be similar in width, it would appear that if Chance entered Fourth Street at either 8, 5, or 4 feet south of the Southern Elm Street curb she would still be in the unmarked crosswalk and if she was walking straight out as White testified, there is no diagonal route as reported by Officer Smith’s past recollections recorded of White’s hearsay statement to him. Also, we know Smith’s measurement that the bus was 18 feet south of the southern Elm Street curb line and according to White, Chance was picked up and carried by the bus before being cropped as the bus stopped per White’s deposition testimony. This would also be consistent with the point of contact being inside the 10-foot crosswalk zone (curb paint). Therefore, even according to White in her sworn testimony, Chance was not outside a crosswalk’ and therefore not subject to CVC 21954(a). (See Part 7 of 13.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.