Sacramento Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Call it the "Sex and the City" syndrome. California is seeing a surge in young women driving drunk. Guys are still kings of drinking and driving. But DUI crashes are up more than 100 percent this decade among women ages 21 to 24, the most of any age group, according to an analysis by AAA researcher Steve Bloch.

Speaking last week at a state Office of Traffic Safety conference, Bloch tweaked trend-setting Hollywood for being the seeming epicenter. Among the young and the restless: Lindsay Lohan (twice), Paris Hilton (it was just one margarita!), Nicole Richie (wielding a black Mercedes) and Khloe Kardashian ("She's a superstar," her attorney said, apropos of nothing). "There seems to be a competition in Hollywood to be the first to be arrested for DUI," Bloch joked.

But the trend is worrisome, he said. We need to know what's behind it.

The California Highway Patrol's Adrian Quintero was taken aback by Bloch's findings. In teen programs, CHP officers often tell girls to take the keys from boys. "We need to change our focus," Quintero said. "We need to get this information out."

"If women go out drinking as a group, it's not that women are drinking more but that women are in the driver's seat when the car is pulled over," de la Peña said. Lisa Couch, 25, of Sacramento and her friends do girls night out twice a month.

Continue reading "California Seeing Surge In Young Women Driving Drunk: Sacramento Women Agree" »

Stanley Franklin Spaeth Jr. of south Sacramento was killed Saturday night after a suspected drunken driver struck his motorcycle as he rode home from work – his second job, one that family members said he took to pay for his oldest daughter's upcoming tuition – and sent his body hurtling through the air.

Officers arrested Rebecca Vela, a 33-year-old Sacramento woman, and booked her into the Sacramento County Main Jail on charges of murder, driving under the influence, and hit and run, according to Elk Grove police. If convicted, court records show it will be Vela's fourth drunken driving offense since 1994.

The accident occurred about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, as Spaeth was northbound on East Stockton Boulevard, said Elk Grove Police Officer Chris Trim. Vela, driving alone in her 1997 Acura TL, was northbound on the same street at a "high rate of speed" and rear-ended Spaeth's motorcycle, Trim said.

Spaeth was thrown from his motorcycle and suffered fatal injuries. He was 54.

"He was killed instantly," Schulzke said. "He had no opportunity to react defensively."

Trim said officers initially booked Vela on suspicion of murder and drunken driving, but the District Attorney's Office added the hit-and-run charge because she was "actively trying to leave" when officers arrived at the scene.

Continue reading "South Sacramento Motorcyclist Killed By Suspected Drunk Driver" »

On Saturday, a bus overturned on Highway 80 near Truckee killing one and injuring many. The bus was carrying employees to work at a Lake Tahoe ski resort. The deceased victim was ejected from the bus. The crash is under investigation.

Twenty-five occupants on board, including the driver, were injured and taken to area hospitals, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Skeen. Four people were taken by helicopter from the scene and one person transferred between hopsitals by air.

A spokeswoman for one hospital treating accident victims said one person is in critical condition and five are serious. The Associated Press is reporting that five people were critically hurt. Skeen said the driver suffered significant injuries.

The shuttle bus is owned by the Resort at Squaw Creek and was carrying employees from their homes in the Reno area to jobs in Squaw Valley. The crash occurred in clear weather at 8:28 a.m. on westbound Interstate 80 west of Floriston and just east of the Hirschdale exit.

Investigators are looking into driver fatigue as the cuae of the crash. CHP spokesman Steve Skeen said Sunday the driver remains in the hospital with head trauma and is no condition to be questioned at length. The crash happened at about 8:30 a.m. in clear conditions, with no other vehicles near the bus, police said. Skeen said the 66-year-old driver may have been on the road since 5:30 a.m. or before.

Continue reading "Bus Accident Near Truckee Kills One, Many Injured" »

Donte' Stallworth, a star NFL receiver for the Cleveland Browns, was charged Wednesday with DUI and vehicular manslaughter for his role in the death of a pedestrian in Miami on March 14, 2009. Stallworth's automobile struck and killed a 59-year-old man who finished his construction work shift around 7:15 a.m., and was attempting to cross the street. Stallworth grew up in Sacramento and played football for Grant High School before accepting an athletic scholarship to the University of Tennessee.

The twenty-eight-year-old Stallworth was detained after the automobile-pedestrian accident and subjected to field sobriety testing. According to his blood test, Stallworth's blood-alcohol level was .126, well above the .08 level allowed under Florida (and California) law.

"I hit the man lying in the road," Stallworth told officers arriving to investigate the crash, according to the affidavit. One officer smelled alcohol on Stallworth's breath and said that his eyes appeared bloodshot and watery. Stallworth has expressed public sympathy for the family of the victim.

If convicted of the manslaughter charge, Stallworth would face up to 15 years in prison.

"Whenever a deadly accident occurs and a driver is impaired, families suffer," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in a statement. "I can only repeat this message over and over: If you are going to drink, don't drive."

Continue reading "NFL Star From Sacramento Charged In DUI-Pedestrian Fatal Accident" »

A car chase in Sacramento's midtown area ended in a three-vehicle crash Tuesday night, with the driver of a stolen car sent to a hospital with major injuries, California Highway Patrol officials said. The chase started at 16th and X streets about 8:40 p.m. when a CHP officer in a cruiser saw a car traveling the wrong way on 16th Street, said Sgt. Dan Brito of the CHP. The officer tried to stop the gray early-'90s model Toyota Camry when it accelerated, Brito said.

During the high-speed pursuit, the driver of the Camry swerved to avoid the crash but lost control and began fish-tailing down X Street, Brito said. Near the end of the block, the Camry slammed into a parked Toyota Corolla, mangling the car and sending a Volvo station wagon parked in front of it careening down the street, where it slammed into a nearby apartment building about 100 feet away.

The Camry, which had been reported stolen, flipped onto its roof, ejecting two passengers onto the nearby freeway embankment and trapping the driver and front passenger in the car, Brito said. The driver of the car sustained major injuries in the crash, Brito said. The passengers, described as boys about 16 years old, were apparently uninjured in the crash but were taken to UC Davis Medical Center, along with the driver, as a precaution, Brito said.

Continue reading "Sacramento Midtown Car Chase Ends In Crash" »