Wrongful Death

Published on: March 16, 2013

Scissor Lift Topples in Port Everglades, Two Dead, One in Critical Condition

Two Broward County Public Works employees were killed Friday morning at busy Port Everglades when a platform scaffold toppled over. A third worker was transported to Broward Health Medical Center in critical condition. The scissor lift fell on its side around 11 a.m., causing the workers atop of it to go flying through the air and come crashing several stories down to the pavement. The workers were performing routine maintenance on a moveable passenger bridge that allows cruise ship passengers to descend from the ship at the port. There were no passengers on the bridge at the time of the collapse.

Shortly after the lift fell, Broward Fire-Rescue was called to the scene at 1801 SE 18th Street in Fort Lauderdale, just before the Intercoastal’s barrier wall. Occupational Safe and Health Administration (OSHA) officials are expected to investigate the scene. OSHA regulations require particular fall protection equipment, such as guardrails or harnesses, when a fall of six or more feet is possible at a construction site.

The scissor lifts are made up of scissor-like joints that are positioned on a wheeled machine that makes a work platform move up and down. Accidents often occur on scissor lifts when the load is too heavy for the lift, the operator moves the lift while the platform is extending, causing an imbalance, or when the operator has not been properly trained. Port Everglades is the largest port in Florida and the second busiest cruise port in the world. Unfortunately, the port has experienced its fair share of accidents. Just a week ago, on March 6, a ninety-one-foot barge was offloaded after it accidently dumped twenty-two containers at sea. Two years ago, a man was killed after being hit by a tractor-trailer.

Two dead in platform topple at Port Everglades, www.miamiherald.com March 15, 2013

Published on: March 13, 2013

Two Crashes on Busy Stretch of Kentucky Highway Killed 6, Injured 5

by Friedland | Carmona

Six people are dead and five injured after two multi-car crashes on a Kentucky highway on Saturday, March 2. Kentucky State Police continue to investigate whether distracted driving caused a tractor-trailer to slam into an SUV filled with eight people and possibly triggered a serious accident on the other side of the highway. The tractor-trailer crash occurred late in the morning and was followed fifteen minutes later by a multi-car crash on the other side of Interstate 65. The second crash injured three.

Although it was snowing that morning, Master Trooper Norman Chaffins stated that weather was not a factor in either accident. The driver of the tractor-trailer, Ibrahim Fetic, forty-seven, said that he saw the SUV in front of him and he hit his brakes, but not in time to avoid impact. The crash occurred just fifteen miles from a crash in 2010 where eleven people died after a tractor-trailer crossed the median and hit a van. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the truck driver in that crash was distracted by his cellular phone. Police are currently looking at Fetic’s driving logs and examining a blood sample collected at the scene.

The six people killed in the SUV were members of an extended family from Wisconsin. The driver and his wife, along with a family friend, and two foster children were among the dead. The two survivors were also foster children. Both were transported to hospitals, one with a broken spine and burns and the other with cuts to the back of his head.

Pair of Ky. highway crashes kills 6, injures 5, www.palmbeachpost.com March 3, 2013

Published on: March 12, 2013

Crash with Drunken Driver at Intersection Leaves Two Teens Dead

by Friedland | Carmona

Two teens are dead in Central Florida after crashing into a suspected drunken driver on Thursday, February 28. Randall Kerley, forty-seven years old, was driving a pickup truck in Osceola County that day, reported the Florida Highway Patrol. Kerley turned left at an intersection in front of an oncoming car. That car hit the right side of Kerley’s truck and burst into flames as it hit another vehicle stopped at the intersection.

Rachel Price, eighteen years old, was the driver of the engulfed car. She also carried a passenger, nineteen-year-old Jamaree Cook. Both were killed on impact. Kerley and the driver of the SUV complained of no injuries. State troopers report that while examining Kerley after the accident he showed signs of impairment. Kerley was then placed under arrest and charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter.

2 teens dead after crash with drunken driver, www.palmbeachpost.com March 1, 2013

Published on: March 8, 2013

Man Charged in Connection with Brooklyn Car Crash that Killed Couple and Baby

by Friedland | Carmona

Julio Acevedo was arrested and charged Thursday with criminally negligent homicide in addition to other offenses in connection with a car accident that killed a couple and their baby in Brooklyn last Sunday. Acevedo turned himself in to police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Wednesday and was transported back to New York Thursday. He was arraigned in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn that evening, surrounded by his friends and family, including his wife and young daughter. He was ultimately charged with three counts of assault, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless driving, and excessive speed. The judge also suspended Acevedo’s license and ordered him held without bail.

Acevedo was accused of driving down a Brooklyn street at 60 mph, which was well over the posted speed limit, early Sunday morning and crashing into a car carrying a couple, Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both twenty-one years old. The couple was on their way to the hospital when the crash occurred. Both were pronounced dead that same day, while the baby, who was still in Raizy Glauber’s womb at the time of the accident, was delivered via c-section. The baby was pronounced dead Monday of extreme prematurity. Acevedo claims that he was fleeing a gunman at the time of the crash and that he was driving so fast to save his own life. However, there were no reports that morning of shots fired in the area.

Witnesses say that they approached Acevedo after the accident to check on him, but that Acevedo fled the scene when the witnesses left to check on the victims. Kathleen Julian, Acevedo’s attorney, stated that Acevedo always intended to turn himself in and that he felt horrible about what happened. Acevedo faces fifteen years to life in prison if convicted of the more serious charges.

Man charged in NY crash that killed couple, baby, www.palmbeachpost.com March 8, 2013

Published on: March 4, 2013

Woman in Independent Living Facility in California Dies After Nurse Refuses to Perform CPR

by Friedland | Carmona

A California dispatcher followed protocols last Tuesday when she pleaded with an independent living facility nurse to perform CPR on a woman who was pronounced dead later that day. Glenwood Gardens, the facility where the woman resided, defended the nurse, who ultimately refused to perform CPR on the woman, stating that she followed the facility’s policy in dealing with this 87-year-old woman.

Dispatcher Tracey Halvorson, who has worked for Kern County for at least a decade, received a call on February 26 from a nurse requesting paramedics to come and help a woman who was barely breathing and had collapsed inside the Glenwood Gardens facility. Halvorson told the nurse to begin CPR on the woman, but the nurse refused, stating that the facility had a policy in place that prohibited her from performing CPR on residents. Halvorson stated “I understand if your boss is telling you you can’t do it. But . . . as a human being . . . you know. Is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?” The nurse responded calmly, “Not at this time.”

The phone call lasted seven minutes and sixteen seconds and consisted of Halvorson pleading with the nurse to perform CPR or find someone else who was willing to help. Halvorson even assured the nurse that the facility could not be sued if anything went wrong with the CPR and the woman died because, as Halvorson stated, the local emergency medical system “takes liability for this call.” The nurse continued to refuse to assist the woman or find anyone else who was willing to do so. Firefighters and ambulance personnel arrived on scene seven minutes after the call came in.

Calif. woman dies after nurse refuses to do CPR, www.palmbeachpost.com March 04, 2013

Published on: February 21, 2013

Five Dead, Two Injured After Small Plane Crashed in Georgia

by Friedland | Carmona

Investigators searched Georgia woods west of Augusta today looking for clues about why a small jet overshot an airport runway and crashed, killing five and injuring two. The jet, which carried seven individuals, including five who worked for the Vein Guys clinic based in Augusta, crashed late Wednesday night about thirty miles west of that city. It is not known if any of the five employees were among the survivors. Dr. Steven Roth, one of the co-founders of the Vein Guys clinic, was aboard the plane with two ultrasound technicians, a nurse anesthetist, and a secretary. Dr. Roth regularly flew to Vein Guys clinics located in Georgia and Tennessee.

The two individuals who survived were transported to local hospitals. Assistant County Fire Chief Stephen Sewell told the Augusta Chronicle that the two survivors were the pilot and a passenger. No additional information was provided about those aboard the plane. One of the survivors is a man who remains in critical condition. No information has been provided about the other individual’s location or condition. The five who died in the accident were taken for autopsies and have yet to be identified.

The plane had taken off from Nashville, Tennessee Wednesday evening and crashed while attempting to land at the Thomson-McDuffie Regional Airport located in Thomson, Georgia. The plane crashed on the opposite side of the highway from where the runway ends. The crash caused a brush fire near the scene and power outages in nearby homes. One couple that lives close to the airport stated that their “lights blinked and went off, and all of a sudden we heard this noise. It sounded like thunder that just kept going on and on.”

NTSB: Plane aborted landing, hit utility pole, www.miamiherald.com February 20, 2013

Published on: February 20, 2013

South Florida Sees an Increasing Number of Fatal Hit-and-Run Crashes

by Friedland | Carmona

In the less than two months since the new year began, South Florida has seen a number of fatal hit-and-run crashes, many still unsolved. Among those unsolved fatal crashes include that of six-year-old DeAndre Binns of Miramar; forty-nine-year-old John Quintal, a bicyclist struck and killed in Sunrise; and forty-seven-year-old Paula Vinsky, a special needs teacher who was struck while crossing a street in Loxahatchee. The family of Dwight Morrison, a sixty-three-year-old jeweler, was somewhat luckier in that the Broward Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged a man with DUI and leaving the scene of the accident, among other offenses, after Morrison was struck while riding his bicycle in Southwest Ranches Saturday. Morrison was killed instantly.

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) says that hit-and-run crashes have increased in recent years. Last year, Broward County ranked second among Florida’s top five counties for hit-and-run crashes. There were 7,857 hit-and-run crashes in 2012 in Broward, an eight percent increase from 2011. Although Palm Beach County was not in the top five counties, it has unfortunately seen its fair share of hit-and-run crashes. In 2012, there were 3,381 hit-and-run accidents and in 2011 there were 3,372. FHP Trooper Joe Sanchez reported that, “Broward and Miami-Dade add up to nearly 20,000 hit-and-run crashes out of the state’s 69,994 crashes last year.”

Fatalities in hit-and-run crashes are also on the rise. In 2011, 162 individuals died as a result of hit-and-run crashes and in 2012 that number was up to 168. Three out of five of these victims were pedestrians. The mother of Renada Evans, a woman who was killed nine years ago in a hit-and-run crash, continues to feel the pain of losing her daughter. Interestingly, the FHP knows the name of the driver that caused Evans’ death in that case, but they have been unable to locate him. Another man who lost his son in a hit-and-run crash was “baffled” when he found out the driver that hit his son just “left him in a ditch.”

Hit-and-run crashes, fatalities on rise, state warns, www.sun-sentinel.com February 19, 2013

Published on: February 11, 2013

Five Crewmembers Killed While Performing Safety Drill on Cruise Ship

by Friedland | Carmona

Five crewmembers aboard a British-operated cruise ship died Sunday while attempting to perform a safety drill in a lifeboat. Three other crewmembers suffered relatively minor injuries. None of the almost one-thousand five-hundred passengers were involved or injured in the accident.

The Thomson Majesty cruise ship docked at the island port of Santa Cruz early Sunday morning. It was scheduled to depart with its 1,498 passengers and 594 crewmembers at 3 p.m. for Funchal located on the mid-Atlantic island of Madeira. At around 10:30 a.m., crewmembers engaged in a safety drill that involved lowering a lifeboat into the water with crewmembers aboard. The lifeboat was successfully lowered into the water, but things took a turn for the worst as the boat was raised back up to the deck about an hour later. As the lifeboat ascended, “a cable holding it snapped and a hook holding the lifeboat on a second cable gave way.” This sent the lifeboat plunging nearly 65 feet into the water upside down.

An alarm was sounded and divers raced to the lifeboat. The divers recovered four bodies and were unsuccessful in reviving a fifth person who had stopped breathing. The three injured crewmen were transported by ambulance to a local hospital. Carnival festivities to be held on the island Sunday were cancelled, but were to go ahead as planned on Monday.

Cruise ship lifeboat accident kills 5 in Spain, www.miamiherald.com February 10, 2013

Published on: February 7, 2013

Sunrise Cyclist Killed in Hit-and-Run, Family Asks Driver to Come Forward

by Friedland | Carmona

The grieving family of a bicyclist killed as a result of a hit-and-run accident is asking for the public to help find the driver that struck their loved one. Sunrise police found the body of 49-year-old John Quintal at 9:10 p.m. on Sunday in the 2100 block of Sunset Strip. Next to him was his twisted bike with a smashed front tire, along with silver paint chips, and debris left behind from the car that struck Quintal. Quintal was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Sgt. Rodney Hailey, Sunrise traffic homicide officers plan to determine the make and model of the vehicle using the debris left behind at the scene. Investigators are also checking the area for surveillance cameras that may have recorded the driver leaving the scene of the accident.

Quintal’s ex-wife, Tania Quintal, and the couple’s son, Jonathan Quintal, flew in from Queens, N.Y. Monday to make arrangements for John Quintal. Tania Quintal urged the driver to come forward and to “make amends.” The family continues to grieve the loss of their loved one as investigators work towards bringing them some kind of closure.

Family seeks help catching hit-and-run driver, www.sun-sentinel.com February 6, 2013

Published on: January 30, 2013

Hit-and-Run Accident on South Beach Leaves One Dead

by Friedland | Carmona

Early Monday morning three lives intersected, leading to the death of one and the arrest of another, after a tragic hit-and-run accident in Miami Beach. It was before dawn when 49-year-old Stefano Riccioletti began his walk to work. He was the executive chef at Terrazza at Shore Club. Karlie Tomica, 20, was headed home after a night on the town and Jairo Fuentes was headed to the gym for his morning workout.

At around 6 a.m. Fuentes was driving north on Collins Avenue. It was at this time that he witnessed Riccioletti get hit by Tomica’s vehicle and go flying into the air. Fuentes dialed 911 and then proceeded to follow Tomica’s car. Tomica tried to lose Fuentes several times as he yelled for her to stop. Her erratic driving led Fuentes to believe that she had been drinking. Eventually Tomica stopped and exited her vehicle. Tomica refused to speak with Fuentes. Fuentes observed a broken passenger window and blood on the side of the car.

Riccioletti died from the impact. Tomica was arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of an accident at her apartment, which was not far from the accident scene. She was taken to Miami-Dade County jail and later released on bond. Since then, Tomica has kept a low profile, avoiding reporters and social media.

3 lives intersect in tragedy on a South Beach street, www.miamiherald.com January 30, 2013