San Diego Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Recently, the Jurewitz Law Group reported on a fatal Santee car crash that was the second accident seen at the intersection within a month. The victim has just been identified as a 53-year-old radiology technician.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office reported that Pamela Sue Marabeas of Santee was killed when a pickup truck struck the driver's side of her SUV as she crossed through an intersection at Mission Gorge Road and California State Route 125, near 6:30 a.m. on September 20, 2009.

Marabeas had been the sole occupant of her vehicle, and died at the scene of the fatal San Diego County auto accident. The driver of the pickup truck had to be rushed to the hospital and remains in critical condition.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a Santee auto accident, contact Santee auto accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego car accident attorneys of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury lawyers online here.

The intersection where CHP Officer Saylor perished in a fiery San Diego car wreck, along with his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law, claimed another life on September 20, 2009, making it two fatal San Diego motor vehicle accidents within less than a month for the Santee location.

This second San Diego County car accident occurred at 6:35 a.m. at the intersection of Mission Gorge Road at California State Route 125, according to Lt. Gary Steadman of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. One person riding in the vehicle was killed while another was rushed to the hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The newest auto collision was reportedly caused when their vehicle hit a berm and veered off the roadway into a dirt construction area.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a Santee car accident, contact Santee car accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego, CA auto accident lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury lawyers online here.

For a free copy of our California injury book, The 10 Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Accident Case, click on the link above. It is full of free, helpful advice for accident victims--including what to do and what not to do following an accident.

A fatal car crash close to Ramona along state Route 78 was finally investigated, prosecuted, and the El Cajon man who was the suspect was convicted.

The auto accident killed two men and injured a woman, and left the El Cajon man clear of murder charges, but convicted on two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter. Shannon Shimp was found guilty of DUI causing injury as he had been driving with a blood-alcohol level of over .08 percent. Each of these charges had allegations that the suspect inflicted great bodily injury personally, and caused death or injury to three or more victims.

Joseph Edwards, 52, who was the passenger in Shimp's pickup, was killed in the crash, along with Ian Kinney, 19, who had been driving a Lexus that was involved in the fatal Ramona car accident. Kinney's girlfriend was also injured.

A test conducted on Shimp nearly two hours following the traffic collision found that his blood-alcohol level to be .19 percent, more than twice the legal limit. Witnesses to the scene testified that Shimp had been driving eastbound when he tried to pass vehicles on the road, but instead lost control and collided with the Lexus, which became pinned under the pickup. Edwards, of Ramona, and Kinney, of Julian, both perished at the scene. Kinney's passenger and girlfriend, Tessa Medearis of Vista had to be cut from the sedan and was hospitalized. Shimp only suffered minor injuries from the fiery wreck.

Monte Bennett, the Deputy District Attorney of the area reported that the defendant Shimp is looking at about 17 years in prison once sentenced by Judge Herbert Exarhos on the following hearing on January 8.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a Ramona drunk driving car accident, contact San Diego, CA DUI auto accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego, CA personal injury attorneys of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego injury lawyers online here.

You may also order our free California injury book, The 10 Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Accident Case, which is full of free information.

Two people have died this week in two East San Diego County motorcycle accidents. The first was the tragic accident of Mark Anthony Taylor when he was hit by an unlicensed car driver, which the Jurewitz Law Group has already reported. The second fatal motorcycle accident occurred in Descanso and was just reported by the San Diego County Coroner's Office.

Marleea Anne Gerfen, 21, was killed September 13th after fracturing her cervical spine in a motorcycle accident along California's Highway 79 while she was traveling southbound near Lookout Road in Descanso. Gerfen had been a servicewoman with the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar on active duty. She struck a dirt berm just as she approached a bend in the highway, causing her to crash on her motorcycle.

Though 911 was called and there was serious resuscitative effort on the paramedic's part, she was unfortunately pronounced dead at the scene in this fatal San Diego motorcycle accident.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a San Diego, CA motorcycle accident, contact San Diego motorcycle accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the traffic accident lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury lawyers online here.

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A local band from San Diego called "A City Serene" with six members, were all seriously injured last week when their tour bus, which had been traveling up the California Grapevine along Interstate 5, was t-boned over the weekend.

The band, which has been classified as a screamo/hardcore band, was riding north on Interstate 5 through the Grapevine on September 20 around 3:30 p.m. when their bus crashed on the way to a San Jose show.

A CHP officer reporting on the incident noted that a Ford pickup truck coming in the opposite direction was airborne and flew over the center divider of Interstate 5. The truck caught a Honda Civic before going broadside into the bus belonging to the band. Another Honda just behind the bus then collided with the undercarriage after the bus had tipped over.

All seven people aboard were hurt in the wreck, all with serious injuries, and all six members of the band are reported to have suffered broken bones as a result of the California car wreck. The six musicians had to be transported by air ambulances to various hospitals in Mission Hills, Bakersfield, and Valencia, California. Family members report that two of the band members are barely holding on to life and are in comas at the moment. Other injuries suffered range from severe concussions to broken bones.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a California bus accident, contact San Diego, CA auto accident attorney Ross Jurewitz and the California personal injury lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury attorneys online here.

Order a free copy of our California injury book for accident victims, The 10 Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Accident Case, through our website. It is a free resource for all California accident victims.

The recent tragic Santee car accident that killed a CHP officer along with his family due to floor mats that trapped the accelerator was the catalyst for Toyota make huge efforts recently to order all such floor mats to be scrutinized under mandatory inspections in all Lexus and Toyota vehicles. It appears that a wrong floor mat was installed into the Lexus loaner that CHP Officer Saylor had been driving when the fiery crash took place.

Though the investigation is not complete just yet, Toyota wanted to waste no time in getting the word out to consumer before a similar catastrophe took place. It was investigators with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that believes the all-weather floor mats found in the wreckage of the accident could have been a cause.

Released 911 tapes that the Jurewitz Law Group has previously reported on showed that backseat passenger Chris Lastrella, brother-in-law to Officer Saylor, made a call to report that their accelerator was stuck adn they had no brakes and they were driving at 120 mph, just before crashing into an SUV at the Mission Gorge intersection with state Route 125 in Santee on August 28 of this year.

By their orders, vehicles may also be taken to dealers for the inspection, and vehicles brought in for any service will have the mats checked as part of the service. The company recently released a statement noting that Toyota takes the safety of the public and their passengers very seriously and will fully cooperate with any investigation. It offers its deepest sympathies to the Saylor and Lastrella families.

An Escondido man was seriously injured last week when he crashed his car into a traffic light pole on Sunday after losing control of his car in San Diego County.

The driver was indentified as Steve Diaz. He accidentally crashed his Honda Civic just before 7 p.m. on September 12, 2009, as he was traveling south on Woodland Parkway just before Rock Springs Road. His sedan actually jumped the curb, sideswiped a concrete wall and then hit the pole. He suffered force injuries to his chest and had to be transported to Palomar Medical Center nearby.

The cause of his accident and the reason he initially lost control of his car is still under investigation, and police have not ruled out alcohol as a possible cause just yet.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in an Escondido car accident, contact San Diego, CA motorcycle accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the California personal injury attorneys of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA injury lawyers online here

Recent horrific car and motorcycle accidents in San Diego County, as well as across the country, have been horrifying the nation, and spurred many researchers to look into the causes of car crashes and other unfortunate deaths. A recent study has shown that in 2008, 5.8 million car accidents occurring in the United States has resulted in 2.35 million injuries and over 37,000 deaths. The scary notion is the finding that a huge one-third of the deaths attributed to car accidents were the results of a drunk driver.

As it reported, the California numbers are proportionate to the national average. However, San Diego County ranks among the highest three California counties to have fatal car accidents and deaths. San Diego County residents have approximately a 13 percent higher chance of being involved in a deadly car collision than the rest of the nation.

Though the state's total number of alcohol-related deaths had decreased by 103 from 2007 to 2008, there are still an alarming number of unwarranted deaths on California roadways.

They also credit drivers who text while behind the wheel to be a significant factor in traffic accidents.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a San Diego County drunk driving car accident, contact San Diego, CA car accident attorney Ross Jurewitz and the California personal injury lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury lawyers online here.

Recently, the Jurewitz law Group reported on the fatal San Diego car accident that involved an off-duty CHP officer and his family, when the accelerator of their rental car stuck and they collided with an SUV before their car caught on fire and burned at the bottom of the San Diego river in a fiery Santee auto crash.

The 911 call made by the brother-in-law of the CHP officer was recently released by San Diego 10 News, in a devastating account of the last minutes of the California Highway Patrol Officer, his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law on August 28. The car they had been riding in was a 2009 Lexus. The call was made by the brother-in-law Christopher Lastrella, and released to San Diego 10 News as the following:

Lastrella: "We're on North 125 and our accelerator is stuck."

911 Dispatcher: "I'm sorry?"

Lastrella: "Our accelerator is stuck. We're on 125."

911 Dispatcher: "Northbound 125. What are you passing?"

Lastrella: "We're going 120. Mission Gorge. We're in trouble. We can't … there is no brakes. End freeway half mile."

911 dispatcher: "You can't do anything like turn off your engine?"

Lastrella: "We're approaching the intersection. We're approaching the intersection. We're approaching the intersection."

Others in the car are heard saying "hold on" and "pray."

As investigation showed, the Lexus they were driving had had "all-weather" floor mats which were made for Lexus between 2004 and 2009, but recalled by Toyota in November 2007 due to complaints that if they were not properly installed the mats would slide forward and trap the gas pedal. A full report of the crash is due to be completed in a few weeks.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a Santee car crash, contact San Diego, CA auto accident Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego car crash lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury lawyers online here.

It looked like Labor Day in San Diego County might be more upsetting than celebratory, when a fatal car crash occurred within the first 60 hours of the three-day holiday weekend. However, when all was said and done it was a more successful weekend than anticipated, with that fatality being the only one recorded for the weekend.

37-year-old Mitchell Paul Pinder of Spring Valley had been riding his motorcycle when he lost control of the vehicle and struck a guard rail when he was driving eastbound on state Route 94, just near Barrett Lake Road in Dulzura.

Last year for Labor Day weekend, there were two killed in local traffic accidents according to theCHP. The drunk driving arrests for this year were also down from last year. There were 82 drunk driving arrests made in the hours between 6 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Monday, as opposed to 110 last year in 2008. Throughout California, 10 people died in fatal wrecks during that same time period, 18 less than the previous year. Altogether there were 1,262 were arrested for drunk driving statewide, down from 1,416 last year.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a San Diego drunk driving car accident, contact San Diego, CA car accident attorney Ross Jurewitz and the California DUI auto accident lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury lawyers online here.

A San Diego street racing car accident near the SDSU campus near Adam's Avenue's Antique Row injured one of its' racers. Two cars were racing one another in the southbound lanes of Interstate 15 when the cars crashed shortly after 10 p.m. on September 3, 2009.

The auto accident sent debris into the air which collided with a vehicle traveling in the northbound lanes. One of the participants in the street race had to be treated for serious injuries at the scene.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a San Diego car crash, contact San Diego car accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego, CA personal injury attorneys of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these California injury lawyers online here for a free consultation.

For a free copy of our California injury book, The Ten Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Injury Case, contact our office. It is full of helpful information and is available for free to all California injury accident victims.

On September 2, 2009, a young 21-year-old woman from San Diego was killed as a direct result of her injuries suffered when another car collided with her vehicle in San Diego's North County area. The crash broadsided her motor vehicle and ultimately killed her.

The woman was identified as Rosa Mora of Vista, and had been the shotgun passenger in a 2006 Mazda 6 that had been stopped in a left turn lane waiting to turn while at an intersection's red light. They were riding westbound along state Route 76 at East Vista Way, according to Eric Newbury of the California Highway Patrol. It was not known why the driver of the car, a 19-year-old, ventured to make the turn against the light just after 11:00 p.m., and collided with a 2004 Nissan Xterra SUV that was traveling eastbound.

The car wreck caused major head trauma to Mora, who had to be transported via air to the hospital, where she died. The rest of the people involved in the two cars suffered only minor injuries. The driver of the Mazda looks at being faced with misdemeanor manslaughter charges because of his actions.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a Vista, CA car accident, contact San Diego County car wreck lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego motor vehicle accident lawyers of the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these California personal injury lawyers online here.