In a curious turn of events, lawyers for a political activist who has been charged in a drunken driving accident resulting in four deaths, has made a bizarre claim. The attorney now alleges that Robert P. Vellanoweth, - although he had a blood alcohol level after the crash of 0.16 – was “not under the influence of alcohol”, and that the other driver in the case was the real culprit.

The drunk driving accident, which made headlines when it happened, involved Vellanoweth, a prominent figure in Sacramento Republican circles, in his Jeep Cherokee and a Chrysler Lebanon. In the Chrysler were 21-year-old Brizchelle Rice-Nash, who was driving the car, her 19-month-old son Kamal, her sister, 17-year-old Brittanya Rice-Nash, family friend 18-year-old Shanice Patrice Carter, and 18-year-old Tanish Jackson. When the two vehicles collided at 35th Avenue near South Land Park Drive, the impact almost completely destroyed the Chrysler. Of the passengers, only Tanish survived, with great bodily injury.

The hearings have just begun, and from the looks of it, any straw that floats by is being clutched at. Vellanoweth’s attorney has thrown out this absurd theory, if you can call it that, that his client wasn’t really drunk at the time of the accident. We don’t know whether it’s desperation that’s causing this joke of a defense. After all, a jury is not going to be inclined to feel very warm towards a well-connected man who managed to kill off four very young persons, including an infant, and entirely because of his arrogance in getting behind the wheel drunk.

Attorney Christopher Wing admits that his client had a blood alcohol level after the drunk driving accident of 0.16, and admitted that his client had had three martinis to drink during lunch. But for some odd reason, of which only he is aware at the moment, he actually told a stunned and packed courtroom that Vellanoweth was not at fault, he was not drunk and the fault of the accident was with the other driver, Brizchelle Rice-Nash. There are so many illogical elements to Wing’s opening statements we’re not sure whether to be amused or angry. For one, he admits that Vellanoweth was speeding at the time of the crash – in fact he uses the words “excessive speeding” – and then, turns right around and tells the courtroom that he (Vellanoweth) was, however, “not negligent.” We would be fascinated in knowing what would be truly “negligent” in the defense attorney’s eyes.

There is even more gibberish coming from the Vellanoweth defense table. One delightful tidbit was that Vellanoweth was actually drinking a non-alcoholic beverage they called a “Virgin Kamikaze”. Unless this beverage works to reduce the effects of alcohol that has just been consumed, we don’t see how this constitutes a defense.

On the other hand, this is a high profile drunk driving accident case, and one where the defendant has absolutely no sympathy from any quarters. There is a great amount of pressure to win, and maybe that’s the reason these wild theories are coming out. As the trial progresses, it will be interesting to see how the defense plans to flesh out these claims.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

There might not be hope in sight for 20-year-old Angel Felix. Severely injured in a drunk driving accident three months ago, the Riverside resident faces the loss of his earning potential and ever rising medical costs as a result of the car accident. Attorneys unfortunately say he might never see much by way of compensation.

Felix was in a car driven by his fiancée, Anna Maria Manzo, on February 22. The two were on their way to San Bernardino, and were on Highway 21. Unknown to them, 19-year-old Robert E. Perkioniemi Jr entered the same highway driving on the wrong side of the road at about 9:23 pm, and began barreling down towards them at 90 miles per hour. He had, investigations later showed, been drinking with his friends before the car accident. As he raced down in his alcohol induced haze, Perkioniemi managed to cause several crashes along the way, hitting cars as he sped along.

When the collision between Felix’s car and Perkioniemi’s 1994 Lincoln Town Car occurred, Anna Maria was killed instantly. Also killed in that instant was her unborn child, a boy they had decided to name Angel Felix Junior. Felix spent the next four days in the Intensive Care Unit of the Riverside Community Hospital. His pelvis was shattered, and his femur was broken. He had a smashed knee as well. He underwent three operations as part of his treatment, but is still struggling to recover most of his pre-accident strength and abilities.

He still spends most of his time confined to a wheel chair, and the road to recovery promises to be extremely hard. Added to his woes, are his medical bills, currently exceeding $100,000, and his treatment is far from complete.

Felix and his fiancée were the most severely injured out of all the crashes that Perkioniemi’s reckless behavior caused. Perkioniemi himself died in the drunk driving accident, but attorneys say that those who were injured in the crashes he caused have very little hope of getting as much compensation as they deserve. This is especially true for Felix, who has had to spend the largest amount on his care.

Perkioniemi’s mother, Linda, owned the car, and it was registered in her name. The insurance is also under her name, and it offers $100,000 payments to a one time claimant and a maximum of $200,000 for all claimants in one accident. Because there were a number of accidents that occurred, multiple personal injury claims are expected in the car accidents that Perkioniemi so recklessly caused. So any payouts would be for a very small amount. This puts people who have had their lives shattered because of this man’s foolishness in a very unfortunate situation.

To sue Linda Perkioniemi, attorneys admit, is a very long shot. It would have to be proved that she knew of her son’s propensity for drunk driving making her responsible for the injuries caused by the accident. Police have still not decided whether they want to charge Perkioniemi’s friend Daniel Christopher Ebert, who was the one who purchased the beer. Ebert, Perkioniemi and another friend had spent that fateful evening imbibing the alcohol. The store that he bought the beer from has also not been charged because they did nothing wrong.

All in all, these circumstances have proven very unfortunate for Felix, who has had so much snatched way from him at such a young age, and can expect little compensation if any for a drunk driving accident that was not only not his fault, but took his fiancée and unborn child as well.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A high school football player and football coach was killed in a drunk driving accident in Del Mar part of San Diego County. 24-year-old Bradley James Dilahunty was a coach at the Santa Margarita Catholic High School, where he had also studied and played football for the team years earlier.

The drunk driving accident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning. Bradley, a Laguna Niguel resident, was riding in a car driven by Milton Willis, a well-known surfer in town, in the latter’s Toyota Avalon. The car was driving at 65 mph in a 25 mph zone. As it sped northward on Coast Boulevard, Willis, who was driving, ran the stop sign on 20th street. The car then bottomed out and slid against a tree. It hit another parked car and tree before coming to a stop. Dilahunty was killed instantly.

Willis was found to be not wearing a seatbelt, and was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla for treatment of his injuries after the drunk driving accident. He is reported to be in a critical condition.

Early investigations have revealed that Willis, who is a well-known surfer in the San Diego area, was under the influence of alcohol.

Its unfortunate that a young and athletic man with a promising future ahead of him had his life cut so short and in the prime of his life. Dilahunty, whose friends and family remember him as a star athlete and enthusiastic football player and coach, had a lot going for him. All it takes in a drunk driving accident is just one second of a wrong judgment or a late reflex to cause devastating injuries.

For Willis, a 51-year-old, it’s completely reckless that he was out in his car with a young passenger, drunk and without a seatbelt. Such irresponsible behavior is the root cause of drunk driving accidents in this country. The buzz from the alcohol gives a feeling of invincibility, which is why experts warn so gravely abut the dangers of imbibing alcohol before hitting the road. Even the most experienced and trained driver could have his reflexes compromised. These facts are so clear and so prominently displayed in the media, and yet, there seems to be no end to the number of accidents that occurs across the state every day.

Willis had a responsibility when he got in the car that night – he could have just as easily called a cab to drive him and Dilahunty back home, or he could have asked someone at the venue to arrange transportation. Instead, he chose to put his own life and that of his passenger in grave danger. For that, he must be held responsible.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The father of a bicyclist killed in a collision with a drunk driver has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver.

The lawsuit relates to the death of Lawrence E. Anderson Jr. when he was riding his bicycle on April 15 on Plymouth Ridge Road in Jefferson, Ohio. A car driven by Kevin R. Mills of Ashtabula struck the bicycle causing fatal injuries to the bicyclist. He was taken for treatment of his injuries to the Huron Road Hospital, where he died a day later.

Mills in the mean time fled the scene. He later turned himself in, and by then, it was too late to take a sobriety test. He did admit to the police officers that he had had a little alcohol to drink before the crash. He showed the police his car, which had also suffered severe damage as a result of the drunk driving accident. If a collision could cause such severe damage to a car, you wonder what chance Lawrence Jr. had. In accidents involving bicyclists, the cyclist usually bears the brunt of the damage, and has the more serious injuries. Fatalities are more common among cyclists involved in an accident, than the drivers of the cars themselves, for obvious reasons.

His father, Lawrence E. Anderson, has filed a wrongful death claim against Mills alleging damages for pain and suffering, hospital bills and funeral expenses for his son and burial expenses. The lawsuit mentions a claim in excess of $25,000 in compensatory damages, and in excess of $25,000 in punitive damages. He has also requested a jury trial.

While Anderson has been mourning his son, Mills has been out on bail. He was arrested on charges of a second-degree felony, a third-degree felony, aggravated vehicular homicide, and hit-and-run.

Here is one more instance of the way a drunk driving accident can ruin lives. There’s no justification for why a father should have to mourn his son. The younger Lawrence Anderson by all accounts, was totally in the right side of the law. He wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t speeding, and he certainly wasn’t breaking any other traffic rules. Mills, on the other hand, was behind the wheel of a car in an intoxicated state. Moreover, he fled from the scene of the accident, leaving a severely injured man on the road to fend for himself. There is no excuse for this sort of behavior. Very conveniently, he turned himself in to the police only the next day, after he had presumably had a chance to go home and clear his system of all alcohol traces.

Lawrence Anderson’s lawsuit is, if anything, too mild in its demands. For the manner in which his son was killed and the pain that his death will cause him for the rest of his life, the damage amount should have been more.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

All his life, Joseph Richardson was used to making sure that his loved ones were safe. His brother remembers how he always watched out for him when they were kids, protecting him from neighborhood bullies. On Monday evening, all of Richardson’s protective instincts would be called again to the fore, this time to protect his daughter. As usual, he didn’t flinch. The “bully” here was – who else? - a drunk driver, and in the couple of seconds before Richardson died, he was able to raise his 4-year-old daughter to safety. He died from injuries sustained in the crash, while his daughter, Kaniyah, survived.

The father and daughter duo, Chicago residents, were walking to a McDonalds restaurant, when a Chevy Cavalier lost control and jumped the curb. The car careened towards them, and in the split second that he had to act, Richardson managed to raise Kaniyah to safety. It was too late to save himself, however. The car slammed against him with full impact, pinning him against the wrought iron fence. He died instantly. Kaniyah is listed as being in critical condition, and is at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The man driving the car was 32-year-old Angelo Thomas. He has been charged with two felony counts of aggravated driving and driving under the influence. He has also been charged with driving without a valid license and without insurance.

Thomas seems to have missed the bus when he was required to take traffic safety classes. He was way over the alcohol limit when the accident took place. According to the results of toxicology reports, his blood alcohol limit was .135, well above the legal limit of .08. If that want enough, he had also been swigging beer at the time of the crash.

A bond of $900,000 has been set for Thomas.

Richardson has three kids who have now been left fatherless, thanks to Angelo Thomas. His family will obviously need support at this time of need. Calling for Thomas’ head is all very well, but this man wrecked a family apart and he deserves punishment that will pinch.

This is one of those cases where you thank our justice system for civil lawsuits. With just two counts of aggravated driving under him, there’s a fair chance Thomas will get out of jail – if he is convicted – in a few years time. A few years in jail with murderers, rapists, and all kinds of other charming personalities is hardly a fitting way to deal with drunken drivers like Angelo Thomas. A civil lawsuit would, on the other hand, not only help Richardson’s now fatherless children and his wife recover their lives back, but also financially cripple Thomas to a point where he is forced to sober up.

A long time criminal investigator with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office became the victim of a drunk driving accident on Thursday night. 53-year-old Laura Cleaves of Santa Ynez died at the scene from fatal injures sustained at the crash.

Cleaves was in her car on Highway 154, when her vehicle was struck by a Mercedes Benz driven by 22-year-old Ashley Johnigan. According to reports, Ashley had just been pulled over by cops on suspicion of drunk driving. As the cops pulled up behind the Mercedes and got out of their vehicle to talk to the woman, she sped off towards Highways 154. Just a few minutes later, the Mercedes struck the Dodge that was carrying Cleaves. According to the California Highway Patrol, Ashley illegally crossed the yellow lanes and struck Laura’s car head on.

After hitting Cleaves, Ashley reportedly drove on and hit a Ford. The driver of that car and Ashley suffered minor injuries.

Laura Cleaves was a highly respected supervising investigator at the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s Lompoc office. In a career that began in 1984, she served as a district attorneys office investigator, and dealt with complex cases that involved transgressions by public officials and theft. She had several famous cases to her credit. It was she, for instance, who did much of the groundwork that led to the conviction of Sylvia Vasquez, the day care provider who ran a foster home full of abuse and neglect. She was known for her dogged pursuit of cases that even federal law enforcement agencies had given up on. She remained to the end a devoted wife and mother. Her presence at the DA’s office will be sorely missed.

This was not a woman who, in any way, deserved to go out like this. Laura had many years of service left in her, and should have had the privilege of seeing her career through to retirement. She deserved to have the peace of a happy retired life spending time with the family – time that she missed when she was so nobly serving the county. Instead, she has gone before her time because a rash 22-year-old either didn’t listen to or didn’t care for the first lesson of driving on the streets – don’t drink and drive.

As we write this, Ashley Jernigan has been let out on bail. This is a woman who needs to be locked up for her own good, if not for others. She’s just managed to cause a horrific crash and a death, besides minor injuries to another driver and all in a night’s work. At the age of 22, she already has one death to her credit. If the investigations are not dealt with properly and Ms Johnigan goes unpunished, there will be more chances for her to cause more injuries and harm to others.

The California State Attorney General’s Office will be handling the investigation into the matter.

A Kaukauna, Wisconsin man who got away with causing serious injuries in a drunken driving accident, will face two civil lawsuits bought by his victims.

The man, Randall Ashauer, a Kaukauna businessman, faces civil lawsuits from both women injured during the accident. The accident in question happened when Ashauer, who was driving his sports utility vehicle on a Kaukauna street, struck two women who were walking on the street. 19-year-old Tiffany Pohl suffered grievous injuries after being struck by the SUV. She is paralyzed from the neck down. The other woman, 21-year-old Kayla Laymer, suffered minor injuries.

After the accident, it was revealed that Ashauer’s blood alcohol level was 0.195 percent, which is more than twice the limit in Wisconsin, which is 0.08 percent. Even with such a high blood alcohol level at the time of the accident, Ashauer was acquitted under a provision that allowed acquittal if the person could prove that the accident would have taken place even if he hadn’t been drunk. In this case, the two girls were walking at night in dark clothes. The charges were, shockingly enough, dismissed.

There seems to be a classic case of blame the victims here. You can’t really think of any other reason why a drunk man who had managed to mow down two young girls who were doing nothing more than walking, is out free, and with not a care in the world, while Tiffany Pohl is still in hospital, with a feeding tube in her. Tiffany has had a total of three surgeries since the accident, and has undergone a tracheotomy. This nineteen-year-old girl has had a halo inserted into her skull to hold her head in place with pins. It’s hard to imagine her suffering, or the anguish of her parents. And yet, Randall Ashauer walks free.

One of Ashauer’s defenses was that it was a first time offense. What has that got to do with anything? Letting people go because they’ve done nothing like this before is the surest way to make sure that they will do exactly that the next time. More than half the drunken driving fatalities in this country are caused by repeat offenders - in other words, people who, like Randall Ashauer, had managed to thumb their nose at the law, and walk away with nothing more than a slap on the wrists. Is it really surprising that a drunk driver goes right ahead and commits the same offense again?

There isn’t a law that states the girls should not have been wearing black clothes at night. They were not drunk, they did not step into the SUV’s path and they certainly don’t deserve to have Ashauer walk away unscathed after causing them so much trauma.

We have always maintained that the only way to bring down DUI accidents is by making examples of people like Randall Ashauer. DUI laws exist in this country to protect the victims. If we begin letting people off after they’ve caused the kind of injuries Tiffany has suffered, then we protect the offenders, and punish the victims.

If you have been injured by a drunk driver, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

Two college students were injured on Tuesday, one of them severely in a truck accident in Vallejo, California.

The two students were reportedly studying at California Maritime Academy. The accident is reported to have occurred when the older model pickup truck that they were in, crashed against the railroad tracks. The truck was going at 60 miles per hour, and rolled over several times on impact. The impact of the crash was so severe it knocked the bed off the truck. Both men were wearing lap seatbelts, the only kind of belts in the car. The passenger who is 21 years old had to be extricated from his seat, and was air lifted to Walnut Creek’s John Muir Medical Center. He is believed to have suffered massive head trauma and other serious injuries. The driver has undergone treatment for minor injuries.

Not surprisingly given the massive impact of the crash and the destruction it wreaked on the vehicles and occupants, alcohol has been found to be the contributing factor. The driver has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and causing serious bodily injury.

Yet again, we see lives ruined tragically and permanently because of alcohol. Recently California passed a law that required driving license applicants to sign a paper saying they are aware of the fact that they will be held accountable for any deaths they might cause if they drive under the influence. It does seem as if this law will only have so much impact on the drunken driving situation in the state. Youngsters in particular are bound to not care too much once they have their licenses in hand, and we can continue to expect tragedies of this sort.

When it comes to drunken driving, the only punishment that’s guaranteed to work is to be held financial liable. Money talks, and when it comes to a person who has just caused severe injuries or death of another, financial liability may prove enough incentive to prevent repeat offenders. Since so many of DUI cases are repeat offenders, its safe to assume that having to cough up a substantial amount would prove even further accidents.

It turns out this latest accident is not the first to take place near the campus. In the recent past, at least three other students have been killed in accidents, including one who died in a motorcycle accident.

As for the family of the passenger who is fighting for life at hospital, we hope they will consider the possibility of financial compensation for their economic and emotional distress. It should serve as a lesson that the people you endanger when you decide to get behind the wheel drunk may not always be strangers, but could often be your own friends or family. Being lenient and “forgiving” actually compounds the problem, and clears the path for repeat offenses.

An illegal alien in Pittsfield Township, Michigan has been arrested after causing a drunk driving accident. Three persons were injured when the Mexican national turned his pick up truck and hit the van head on.

Officers responding to the crash found a 27-year-old old pregnant woman inside the car who reported that the pick up truck had hit her van. Apparently, when the woman approached the truck to confront the man, he took off, even though his truck had been badly damaged. The woman and her two passengers were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the truck, who is believed to have been intoxicated, kept on driving even though fluids were leaking from his truck and it was dropping debris on the way.

It was another driver’s presence of mind that finally led to the drunk driver being arrested. He noticed the truck was racing on ahead (which should give you some idea of how drunk the man was. What kind of person doesn’t realize that his truck is falling apart as he’s driving?) and he noticed that there was smoke coming from the back of the truck.

He followed the car right up to the apartments where the man was living and then noted down the address. He then called the cops who arrived a while later. They arrested him as he was trying to escape by sneaking under the bottom of another car. When arrested, the suspect was bleeding from his hands and mouth and was highly intoxicated.

Her also did not speak English, and was reportedly so drunk he could barely stand straight. His injuries were severe and he could not be given a breathalyzer test.

It’s quite certain the man was drinking even without the results of the test. His cousin who lives in the same building apparently told the cops that he had been drinking all night.

This was hardly a first time offense for the man. Records showed that his license had been expired, suspended and revoked a total of seven times. The very first suspension was in 2002.

That a man with such a history of road abuse was allowed to be behind the wheel of a truck is disturbing. Authorities will have to begin enforcing stricter policies if more such accidents are to be avoided.

If you have been injured by a drunk driver, you need the help of an aggressive California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

Not surprisingly, alcohol has been found to be the culprit in yet another deadly crash, this time the one that occurred on San Juan Road in North Monterey County, California on Sunday.

The accident, which took place shortly before 9 pm, involved a Dodge Intrepid and a Toyota Camry. Both vehicles overturned on impact. The California Highway Patrol now says the driver of the Dodge, Jeanette Sandoval, was possibly intoxicated at the time of the crash – beer cans were found in the car after the accident.

Besides 25-year-old Sandoval herself, three other people were killed. The driver of the Camry, and his two passengers were also killed. This was a deadly crash even by the standards of some of the other accidents that have taken place on San Juan Road in the past years. In March last year, two teenagers were killed when their pickup crashed into a trailer, while another driver was seriously injured after he crashed into a utility pole on the road.

Two passengers in the most recent crash have survived with severe injuries and are being treated at nearby hospitals. All the passengers in the crash save one reportedly were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash, which should give an inkling of the devastating impact.

Sadly enough, deadly as this tragedy has been, with a number of young lives cut short, we all know it won’t be the last we hear about. We’ve almost become inured to DUI accidents that are such a staple part of our streets, but when a group of youths and teenagers lose their lives because no one thought to take a ride home or ask someone to come pick them up instead, it does strike us as a sad and unnecessary waste.

If you have a loved-one who has been killed by a drunk driver, you need the help of an aggressive California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.