Music video gives look at boy paralyzed in drunk driving crash

KELLER, Texas -- "Blink your eyes if you remember me," said 17-year-old Michael Lane, and his childhood friend Sergio Molina blinked.

It's the only way Sergio communicates. Michael treasures every blink.

"It's heartbreaking. Sergio was such a happy kid, always laughing," Michael said. "Had this electric, outgoing personality."

The two met in middle school. Michael is now a junior at Keller Central High. He's a budding hip hop singer and songwriter. And now he's writing about tragedy.

"Four people are dead and I can't even see remorse. I ain't let out that much tears since my parents got divorced. And they want rehab?" he sings.

Those lyrics are a nod to the 10 years of probation given to 16-year-old Ethan Couch, who was drunk when he was driving a pickup full of teenagers. He plowed into an accident scene, killing the driver of a broken down car and three Good Samaritans who had come to her aid.

Sergio Molina was in the back of the truck. He was paralyzed in the crash.

His family gave Michael permission to use their private moments together in a music video, and also gave us permission to share it.

"The first thing that was on my mind when I started writing it was Sergio," Michael said of the song "Stay," which features Sergio in the video.

The crash was in June, Michael wrote the song in one day, after spending many weeks by his friend's side.

"I was so stressed out, had so many mixed emotions, and had so much going on, that the only way I knew how to keep myself from imploding was to write it," he said. "This has made a huge impact on my life. Up until this point, I've never really had to deal with losing someone -- let alone a friend."

His emotions drove him to wrote another song this week, after the proceedings in juvenile court.

"I had gone and testified on behalf of Sergio and hearing everyone's testimony and all the police statements, I was real -- I was shocked," he said.

"I broke down and cried like a baby," he admitted.

Michael doesn't yet have a video for his newest piece, but the lyrics are powerful alone. They are all about Couch.

"Four people are dead and I can't even seen remorse. I ain't let out that much tears since my parents got divorced and they want rehab?" he sings.

"Can't you see the stuff you've done? Even if they let you walk, this will haunt you. You ain't won."

Michael said he was moved to write about Couch because of his personal experience inside the courtroom.

"We made eye contact one time and that was when I was coming off the stand, and it was almost for like a second or two," Michael explained. "You know you can tell a lot about someone when you look in their eyes."

"Instead of this remorseful, guilty look you'd expect someone to have, his stare was just kind of cold," he said. "Like he was either angry, or he just wasn't there."

Michael's newest song includes one line near the end where he names each victim who died. He didn't know them, but feels like he does, especially after hearing graphic testimony about their violent deaths.

"I know Shelby, I know Holly, and I feel for Breanna. And Brian, in my heart, I want y'all to know you died in honor."

"I mention their names because the love they gave and the memory people have of them will always live on," Michael said.

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Source: KVUE (Woodart, 12/16)

Teen sentenced to 10 years probation, rehab in 4 deaths

FORT WORTH — A Keller teenager who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and causing collisions that killed four people in June was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years probation.

State District Judge Jean Boyd ordered the 16-year-old to receive therapy at a long-term, in-patient facility. He will stay in Tarrant County juvenile detention until the juvenile probation department prepares a report about possible treatment programs.

If the teen violates the terms of his probation, he could be sent to prison for 10 years.

Prosecutors had asked that the youth be sentenced to 20 years in a state lockup.

Defense attorneys recommended a lengthy probationary term at a rehabilitation facility near Newport Beach, Calif., that can cost more than $450,000 a year. Attorneys said the teen’s parents would pay for the therapy.

The 16-year-old pleaded guilty last week to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. Killed were Breanna Mitchell of Lillian, whose car broke down the night of June 15 on Burleson-Retta Road; Hollie and Shelby Boyles, who lived nearby and had come outside to help Mitchell; and Burleson youth minister Brian Jennings, a passer-by who had also stopped to help.

The teen admitted to being drunk when he lost control of his pickup. He had seven passengers in his Ford F-350, was speeding, had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, plus traces of Valium in his system, according to earlier testimony.

The teen elected to have Boyd sentence him.

The Star-Telegram usually does not identify juvenile defendants.

Two teens riding in the bed of the teen’s pickup were critically injured. Solimon Mohmand had numerous broken bones and internal injuries. Sergio Molina remains paralyzed and communicates by blinking his eyes, according to testimony last week.

Scott Brown, an attorney who represented the teen with Reagan Wynn, said the teen could have been freed in two years if Boyd had sentenced him to 20 years.

“She fashioned a sentence that could have him under the thumb of the justice system for the next 10 years,” Brown said.

Richard Alpert, a Tarrant County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case with Riley Shaw, said they were very disappointed with the verdict.

In his closing statement, Alpert said that if the teen continues to be insulated by his family’s wealth, as had happened before, he would be involved in another tragedy in the future.

“There can be no doubt that he will be in another courthouse one day blaming the lenient treatment he received here,” Alpert said.

In delivering the sentence, Boyd told the victims’ families in the packed courtroom that there was nothing she could do that would lessen their pain. And she told the teen that he, not his parents, is responsible for his actions.

Boyd said that she is familiar with programs available in the Texas juvenile justice system and is aware that he might not get the kind of intensive therapy in a state-run program that he could receive at the California facility suggested by his attorneys. Boyd said she had sentenced other teens to state programs but they never actually got into those programs.

Families’ reactions

Eric Boyles, who lost his wife and a daughter in the collision, said there was a lot of disappointment in the room where the victims’ families gathered after Boyd announced the sentence.

“Money always seems to keep [the teen] out of trouble,” Boyles said. “Ultimately today, I felt that money did prevail. If [he] had been any other youth, I feel like the circumstances would have been different.”

Marla Mitchell, whose daughter was killed, said: “He’s not free. None of us knows what God’s plan is. He has not escaped judgment. That is in the hands of a higher power.”

Shaunna Jennings, whose husband was killed, said her family had forgiven the teen, but that did not mean he should not be punished.

“You lived a life of privilege and entitlement, and my prayer is that it does not get you out of this,” Jennings said. “My fear is that it will get you out of this.”

Emotional age of 12

Earlier Tuesday, a psychologist testified that the teen essentially raised himself.

His parents had a volatile and co-dependent relationship, and had a contentious divorce, said Gary Miller, who began evaluating the teen on the day he was released from a hospital after the wreck.

The parents argued often, which the teen witnessed, Miller said.

The teen’s father “does not have relationships, he takes hostages,” Miller said. Miller described the mother as a desperate woman who used her son as a tool to get her husband to act the way she wanted.

The mother gave the teen things, Miller said. “Her mantra was that if it feels good, do it,” Miller said.

The teen’s intellectual age was 18, but his emotional age was 12, Miller told Boyd.

“The teen never learned to say that you’re sorry if you hurt someone,” Miller said. “If you hurt someone, you sent him money.”

Miller said if the teen can get the help that he needs, perhaps he can become a contributing member of society and make amends for the pain he caused so many families.

“This kid has been in a system that’s sick,” Miller said. “If he goes to jail, that’s just another sick system.”

As a child, he had to make adult decisions, Miller said. He had a motorcycle when he was 4 or 5 and was driving large pickups at 13, Miller said. The teen was a high school graduate at 16, but could not say where he went to school, where he went to church and had no friends, Miller said.

His parents never taught him the things that good parents teach children, Miller said.

“He never learned that sometimes you don’t get your way,” Miller said. “He had the cars and he had the money. He had freedoms that no young man would be able to handle.”

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Source: Star-Telegram (Mitchell, 12/13)

Ending drunk driving is goal of MADD's Jingle Bell 5K

AUSTIN -- In an attempt to remember those impacted in the kind of accident that can change lives forever, the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Jingle Bell 5K brought more than 600 runners and walkers to the Domain in Austin.

"This kind of event gives people the opportunity to heal," said Jaime Gutierrez, the Executive Director of MADD Texas. "It gives the opportunity for us to make the public aware of the dangers of drinking and driving."

MADD said that in 2011 between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, intoxicated driving was to blame for 931 deaths nationwide.

That's 931 too many, according to Mark Huber. He said these days, drinking and driving is no longer a mistake, it's a choice.

Huber called his 12-year-old daughter Jessica a "miracle." Jessica survived a horrific drunk driving accident in 2002, when her mother ran a red light on Highway 290 and collided with a truck. The then 19-month-old was hurt so badly, doctors told Huber they would not be able to save her.

Since the accident, Jessica had several facial reconstruction and brain surgeries, and there's still so much left to do.

"The nightmare never goes away," Mark Huber said. "11 years later, she still is going to require another facial reconstruction. That's titanium plates in her forehead, rebuilding her left cheekbone. It's financial. It's emotional. It's physical. The nightmare never goes away and it need not happen."

MADD helped Huber get Jessica's mother convicted of DWI.

As the bells worn by runners in the group's Jingle Bell 5K reminded racegoers of the holidays, Mark brought Jessica to the race to remind people that the choices they make can have a real impact; especially on the ones they love.

"It's not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of 'when'. It's going to happen to somebody you know. It could be in your own house. No child deserves this. No parent deserves to spend the holidays in the hospital with a child that need not be there," Huber said.

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Source: KHOU (Shively, 12/01)

Johnson & Johnson Said to Agree to $4 Billion Settlement Over Hip Implants

Johnson & Johnson has tentatively agreed to a settlement that could reach up to $4 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits filed by patients injured by a flawed all-metal replacement hip, said two lawyers briefed on the plan.

The tentative plan, which must win court approval, represents one of the largest payouts for product liability claims involving a medical device.

A spokeswoman for the company’s DePuy Orthopaedics unit declined to comment on the possibility of a settlement. An announcement about the plan is expected in the coming days, the lawyers said.

The agreement will include those patients who have already been forced to have the device, known as the Articular Surface Replacement, or A.S.R., removed and replaced with another artificial hip, said the lawyers who spoke about the agreement only on the condition of anonymity.

Under the deal, each patient would receive about $350,000 on average in compensation, though that figure will vary depending on factors like a patient’s age and medical condition.

The precise value of the settlement is unclear because lawyers for patients are still trying to estimate how many of the 12,000 related lawsuits involve patients who had a replacement. Lawyers believe that number may be 7,000 to 8,000 cases.

The final cost of the deal to Johnson & Johnson could rise, depending on how many claimants who received the device undergo replacement operations in the future, the lawyers said. Under the plan, patients who have not had a replacement would not receive compensation, the lawyers said.

The A.S.R. hip was sold by DePuy until mid-2010, when the company recalled it amid sharply rising early failure rates. The device, which had a metal ball and a metal cup, sheds metallic debris as it wears, generating particles that have damaged tissue in some patients or caused crippling injuries.

DePuy officials have long insisted that they acted appropriately in recalling the device when they did. However, internal company documents disclosed during the trial of a patient lawsuit this year showed that DePuy officials were long aware that the hip had a flawed design and was failing prematurely at a high rate.

Many artificial hips last 15 years or more before they wear out and need to be replaced. But by 2008, data from orthopedic databases outside the United States also showed that the A.S.R. was failing at high rates in patients after just a few years.

Internal DePuy projections estimate that it will fail in 40 percent of those patients in five years, a rate eight times higher than for many other hip devices.

It had been long anticipated that DePuy would try to settle the case. Of the two lawsuits that have gone to trial, the company lost one lawsuit and won the other one.

However, it was facing the start of several new trials around the country with the prospect of large damage awards. The outlines of a settlement proposal were reported Tuesday by Bloomberg News.

The hip was first sold by DePuy in 2003 outside the United States for use in an alternative hip replacement procedure called resurfacing. Two years later, DePuy started selling another version for use here in standard hip replacements that used the same cup component as the resurfacing device. Only the standard version was sold in the United States; both were sold outside the country.

About 93,000 patients received an A.S.R., about one-third of them in the United States.

Problems with the design first came to light in Australia and England just a few years after its marketing began. But DePuy officials insisted for years to surgeons who complained about that device that patient problems reflected their surgical technique rather than the implant’s design.

Last year, The New York Times reported that DePuy executives decided in 2009 to phase out the A.S.R. and sell existing inventories weeks after the Food and Drug Administration asked the company for more safety data about the implant.

The agency also told the company at that time that it was rejecting its efforts to sell the resurfacing version of the device in the United States because of concerns about “high concentration of metal ions” in the blood of patients who received it.

DePuy never disclosed the F.D.A. ruling to regulators in other countries, where it was still marketing the resurfacing version of the implant.

The head of DePuy’s orthopedic unit, Andrew Ekdahl, oversaw the introduction of the hip and was warned by a company consultant in 2008 that the implant appeared to have a design flaw, according to internal DePuy documents disclosed during a trial earlier this year.

When DePuy recalled the hip in 2010, it announced a program in which it offered to pay the medical costs of a replacement procedure.

All-metal replacement hips like the A.S.R. were once highly popular with orthopedic surgeons who believed the devices would last longer than traditional replacement devices made of plastic and metal. But the metal devices are rarely used anymore because of their high early failure rates.

While the settlement, if approved, would resolve much of the litigation against DePuy involving that device, it continues to face thousands of lawsuits involving another all-metal hip that it no longer sells called the Pinnacle.

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Source: The New York Times (Meieir, 11/12)

High School Senior Dies in Texting-Related Crash

A 17-year-old North Texas high school senior was killed Thursday when she crashed her car while texting, police said.

The accident happened at about 3 p.m. on West Exchange Parkway near Trinidad Lane in Allen.

Emily Stambaugh died when her car veered off the road, hit the curb and then struck a rock wall, Sgt. Jon Felty said. No other cars were involved in the crash.

"I just want everyone to know what a great person she was," said Stambaugh's boyfriend Brandon Moring. "She was an outgoing, bubbly person. She always knew how to make you laugh, smile, just everything."

Felty said the early results of the investigation show she was distracted by using her cellphone.

"It certainly appears she was texting with (her) boyfriend and sister at the time the accident occurred," he said.

The lesson is simple, Felty said.

"Don't text and drive," he said.

Moring said he preferred to talk about her and not the circumstances of the crash.

The accident couldn't have come at a worse time for the Stambaugh family.

Stambaugh recently tweeted that her father was in the hospital awaiting a heart transplant.

Allen High School's football team played Plano High School on Friday night, and friends wore white to honor her.

"I think the biggest lesson all teenagers can take from this is to show us how fragile life really is," said Allen senior Tracey Brannon, 17. "It was one of my friends who died, so it's really hard right now."

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Source: NBCDFW (Gordon, 11/08)

Texas accident near Terrell kills three team roping horses

In a serious vehicular accident on Wednesday afternoon, October 30, 2013, a truck hauling U.S. team roping horses in a horse trailer veered off the eastbound Spur 557 merge ramp of IH-20. The big truck continued off the highway, striking a light pole, and jackknifed. The truck rig finally came to a stop, remaining upright, but the horse trailer containing the horses overturned and finally ended up on its side. The large highway light pole fell across one of the lanes of traffic. During the accident, a passenger vehicle became involved in the accident, sustaining some damage but nothing major.

The truck was on its way to Alabama after the U.S. Team Roping Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Loaded in the trailer were four roping horses.

The Terrell Police, Terrell Fire, and Terrell Volunteer Fire Departments as well as the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office responded to the accident scene shortly before 1:00 p.m.

Emergency crews and road crews were able to remove one horse very quickly out of the wreckage. With the use of a tow truck, they managed to extricate the other three horses.

Injuries to the horses took the lives of two animals at the scene early on after the accident. One other horse had to be euthanized due to serious injuries. The fourth horse survived during and after the accident, and was emergency transported to the Equine Veterinary Services in Terrell, Texas, where it is holding its own at this time.

These horses were worth immense sentimental value to everyone involved with them. Reportedly the surviving horse is worth an estimated $200,000.

The driver of the truck survived with a head injury and was treated at the scene of the accident. According to the driver, there was some kind of a vibration sound just before the crash.

During and after the accident, traffic was snarled and backed up to FM148. On the eastbound side, traffic halted as well.

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Source: Examiner (Rucki, 11/01)

Toyota Plaintiffs Target Vehicle Electronics

The sudden-acceleration litigation against Toyota shifts to Oklahoma on Monday, as plaintiffs attorneys for the first time blame vehicle electronics for a crash that injured the driver and killed a front-seat passenger.

The first major trial over sudden acceleration focused on Toyota's failure to install a brake override safety system, not the electronics. A Los Angeles jury began deliberations on October 2 following two months of testimony.

The plaintiff in the Oklahoma case is Jean Bookout, who suffered internal bleeding and a broken ankle when her 2005 Camry crashed six years ago. Her friend, Barbara Schwarz, who was in the front seat, was killed.

Toyota has so far managed to settle litigation over sudden-acceleration defects. A $1.6 billion settlement, approved in July, resolved claims by consumers that their vehicles lost value. Another $25.5 million settlement resolved claims that shareholders lost money from the recalls. But trials now under way could influence the outcome of hundreds of remaining lawsuits, all of which target Toyota for injuries and deaths associated with accidents. Bookout filed her lawsuit in 2008, one year before Toyota began recalling nearly 10 million vehicles for defective floor mats and accelerator pedals linked to sudden acceleration. The case is a an outlier: It's not part of a coordinated proceeding, and lawyers have not selected it as a bellwether trial, defined as one whose outcome could guide the resolution of other cases pending against Toyota across the nation.

"Ms. Bookout doesn't have much memory…but she remembers the onset of the incident and remembers pumping her brakes, and the car kept going when she was slowing to get off the exit ramp," said Bookout's lawyer, Graham Esdale, a shareholder at Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles in Montgomery, Ala.

But Toyota has brought in a significant legal team including Bowman and Brooke, its lead national counsel in the sudden-acceleration cases. The team also includes J. Randolph Bibb Jr. of Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop in Nashville, Tenn., and James Jennings and Derrick Teague, senior shareholders of Jennings Cook & Teague in Oklahoma City.

Toyota spokeswoman Carly Schaffner issued a formal statement: "Multiple independent evaluations have confirmed the safety of Toyota's electronic throttle control systems, which are equipped with numerous, robust failsafe systems."

Toyota faces a formidable foe. In addition to Esdale, Beasley Allen's trial team includes senior member Jere Beasley and products liability shareholders Ben­jamin Baker and J. Cole Portis. The firm also is working with Larry Tawwater and Darren Tawwater of The Tawwater Law Firm in Oklahoma City.

The trial is expected to last less than three weeks. "It'll be fairly extensive," Esdale said. "Right now, our trial team is bigger than anyone we've sent to a court."

Bookout and Schwarz's estate intend to claim that Toyota was negligent and that the design of its 2005 Camry was defective, Esdale said. They also plan to ask jurors for punitive damages.

Some 20 experts are on tap, many of whom appeared during the first bellwether case over sudden acceleration to testify about braking systems. Others plan to testify about alleged defects in the vehicle's electronics software. Toyota has moved to exclude a report by one such plaintiffs expert, Michael Barr, whom plaintiffs lawyers indicated has identified a potential software glitch that could cause sudden acceleration. "Mr. Barr testified in his deposition that the Toyota software is defective, which results in unintended acceleration," Larry Tawwater wrote.

FIGHT OVER EXPERT

Toyota's motion and Barr's report were filed under seal, but Toyota has made a similar request to exclude Barr's findings in a case scheduled to go to trial on November 5 in the multidistrict litigation over sudden-acceleration defects against Toyota pending before U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, Calif.

Beasley Allen has asked that additional members of its team have access to Toyota's proprietary software, which is housed in a secured facility in Maryland. Only two lawyers at the firm — Esdale and Baker — now have access to the source-code database.

"We filed a motion to allow lawyers trying the case access to it," Esdale said. "Clearly, they'll see and hear about it during the trial." Toyota's attorneys have opposed that request; access to its source code is governed by a stipulated protective order in the multidistrict litigation.

Oklahoma County District Court Judge Patricia Parrish issued a letter order on September 24 denying Toyota's motion as to Barr, but hasn't ruled on the source-code request. On October 1, she denied the plaintiffs' request to put James Lentz, head of Toyota's North American region and Toyota's highest ranking U.S. executive, on the stand. Lentz was forced to testify in person before jurors during the first trial.

Parrish also rejected a motion by Toyota to prevent plaintiffs lawyers from disclosing to the news media all "extrajudicial statements," especially highly sensitive proprietary information, that could prejudice a prospective jury pool.

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Source: Law Journal (Brondstad, 10/07)

Teens with passengers at higher risk for fatal crashes, study finds

An interesting study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute has found Texas drivers age 15 to 17 who carry passengers are 12 times more likely to have a fatal crash than adults with passengers.

The report, released today, compared crash data between 2002 and 2011. It found that even as fatalities decreased, the percentage of novice drivers carrying passengers in fatal accidents jumped, indicating the safest practice for new drivers might be to go it alone — and to refrain from fumbling with their phones.

“Total teen fatal crashes per year declined, but the relative risk for young drivers carrying teen passengers actually increased substantially – at this same time, text messaging exploded in American society,” said Russell Henk, the primary author of the study. “We can’t scientifically state that there’s a direct link between those two things yet, but it seems reasonable to suspect a connection.”

What officials can conclusively say is in driving with passengers increases the relative risk for young drivers. Nationwide, drivers age 15-17, with one or more passengers age 13 to 17, are eight times more likely than adults with passengers to have a fatal accident. During the decade studied, the number of fatal teen accidents dropped 60 percent, but more of them happened when other teens were in the car.

“The decline in the number of novice drivers in fatal crashes certainly indicates substantial improvement,” according to the report. “At the same time, however, the increase in the proportion of fatal crashes involving novice drivers that also include multiple teen passengers relative to those crashes with somewhat older and more experienced – but still young – drivers, should at the very least raise cautionary flags with respect to the persistence of fatal crash issues among novice teen drivers that merit continued attention.”

The increased happened as many states, including Texas, enacted strict graduated licencing programs that limit when and with whom teen drivers may hit the road. Texas forbids drivers under 18 from driving with more than one passenger under age 21 during the first year of licensed driving, though exceptions for family members can apply.

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source: Chron (AP, 9/26)

Midland teen faces harder penalties for fatal hit-and-run crash following law change

A Midland teen arrested for fleeing the scene of a fatal wreck a week ago faces harsher penalties because of a new law that went into effect on Sept. 1. Fernando Alvarado, 18, posted a $65,000 bond and has been released on a felony charge of failure to stop and render aid. When he was arrested, he was booked on a third-degree felony charge, but the charge has since been refiled as a second-degree felony.

Before Sept. 1, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death of a person and failing to render aid was a third-degree felony. But under Texas Senate Bill 275 the charge now is second-degree felony, according to the Department of Public Safety.

The bill unanimously passed in the Senate on April 2 and unanimously passed in the House on May 4.

A second-degree felony charge carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison, while a third-degree felony charge carries a penalty of two to 10 years. Both charges carry an optional fine of up to $10,000,

Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said motorists involved in crashes commonly flee the scene because of drug possession, alcohol consumption or outstanding warrants.

He also said motorists might leave the scene of an accident because they are scared and don’t know what to do.

“It’s the wrong thing to do, but they do that,” Painter said.

He said motorists involved in a vehicle crash should remain at the scene and call 911 or flag down a passing driver so that they can call for emergency services.

Lt. Ray Leible said the Midland Police Department’s case load for hit-and-run crashes has so increased that there is an officer designated solely to those cases.

That investigator, Officer Kenneth Callahan, said there have been 382 hit-and-run wrecks this year. Of those crashes, two people suffered incapacitating injuries, 16 suffered non-incapacitating injuries and 24 suffered possible injuries, Callahan said.

The Sept. 15 wreck, which was the 35th fatality in 32 wrecks on roads inside Midland County this year, was the third fatal hit-and-run crash this year, according to Reporter-Telegram records.

The most recent crash occurred at about 3:56 a.m. Sept. 15 near the Stripes convenience store in the 2400 block of South Rankin Highway.

A pickup, driven by Alvarado, was leaving the store parking lot to head south on Rankin Highway when it was struck by a southbound SUV, driven by 28-year-old Noah Alexander Flemister, according to previous reports.

Both vehicles were forced off the roadway, causing the SUV to roll over. Flemister, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected. He was transported to Midland Memorial Hospital, where he died, according to previous reports.

Alvarado fled the scene and abandoned his pickup in the 2100 block of Belmont Street before fleeing on foot. Police arrested him in the 900 block of South Weatherford Street, according to previous reports.

Other fatal hit-and-run crashes in 2013 on Midland County roads:

-- Midlander Stefanie Moore, 22, was traveling south on Midkiff Road when she hit a 35-year-old Midland woman, who was walking east in the roadway on the south side of the intersection at Wadley Avenue, according to previous Reporter-Telegram reports of the May 17 incident.

The investigation showed the pedestrian did not have the right-of-way at the time of the incident, according to previous reports.

Moore fled the scene and the victim was transported to Midland Memorial Hospital, where she died.

Moore called to report an unrelated accident, and after an investigation she was identified as the driver in the hit-and-run. She was found to be intoxicated and was arrested on a second-degree felony charge of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, according previous reports.

If convicted, Moore faces up to 20 years in prison.

-- A 44-year-old Midland man was westbound on a motorcycle on Front Street when an eastbound SUV, driven by 30-year-old Damien Duron, of San Angelo, turned north and collided with the motorcyclist, according to an officer at the scene of the May 25 crash.

The motorcyclist, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to MPD.

Duron fled on foot, leaving a 13-year-old passenger at the scene. Police found him a few minutes later in the 700 block of North Tilden Street. He had drunk five beers before getting behind the wheel, according to his arrest affidavit.

Duron is being held at Midland County Detention Center on a $300,000 bond for a was charged with a second-degree felony charge of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

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Source: My West Texas (White, 9/21)

Family sues Six Flags just as ride reopens after fatal accident

As Six Flags Over Texas prepares to reopen the Texas Giant roller coaster after a fatal accident in July, relatives of the woman who died have sued the Arlington amusement park.

In a statement Sept. 10, Six Flags announced that its investigation of the July 19 accident - which included the ride manufacturer, Six Flags engineers and outside experts - had ruled out mechanical failure as an accident cause.

"Due to litigation, the company is not releasing any further information about the outcome of the investigation," the statement said.

Also on Sept. 10, representatives of the estate of Rosa Esparza filed suit against Six Flags Entertainment Corp. in Tarrant County's 342nd State District Court, seeking at least $1 million in damages.

According to the complaint filed by her son, Amado Esparza, and others, inspections after the accident showed that various parts of the giant roller coaster's security system were "experiencing inconsistencies and intermittent failures" on the day Rosa Esparza died.

As noted in the complaint, the roller coaster had one safety bar for each seat but no lap belts or shoulder-harness safety belts.

When the ride was in its first steep descent, Esparza's daughter heard screaming behind her and turned to see her mother upside-down, in the process of being thrown out of the car but struggling to hold onto the safety bar "for dear life," the suit stated.

Esparza, 52, was unable to resist the forces of the ride and was thrown against a support piling, falling many feet to the metal roof of a tunnel, the family claims in its suit.

Six Flags has admitted, the suit claims, that, after the accident, it replaced a restraint "limit switch" in a seat in the same car in which Esparza was riding.

As a result of Six Flags' negligence, the suit claims, Esparza was ejected from the ride and fell to her death "while her daughter and son-in-law rode along in horror and while her grandchildren waited for her at the end of the ride."

Six Flags Over Texas did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Park officials plan to reopen the ride this weekend, the Six Flags announcement said, with new safety measures including redesigned restraint-bar pads from the manufacturer and new seat belts.

Also, the company is providing a "coaster seat" at the ride entrance so guests can test whether they fit in the car before entering the line, the announcement said.

The announcement included the company's condolences for the Esparza family.

"We are heartbroken and will forever feel the pain and sadness of this tragic accident," park president Steve Martindale said in the statement. "The safety of our guests and employees is our company's absolute highest priority and we try to take every reasonable precaution to eliminate the risk of accidents."

According to the company's announcement, the Texas Giant has undergone extensive testing and has received approval from the Texas Department of Insurance to resume operation.

At the time of the accident, the Associated Press reported that the Texas Giant is 14 stories high, has a drop of 79 degrees and a bank of 95 degrees. It first opened in 1990 as an all-wooden coaster but underwent a $10 million renovation to install steel-hybrid rails and reopened in 2011, the AP said.

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Source: Chron (Christian, 09/11)

Malpractice Payouts to U.S. Veterans Reach 12-Year High

Christopher Ellison went to a veterans medical center in Philadelphia to get eight teeth extracted in 2007. What should have been a routine dentist visit left him permanently incapacitated.

The $17.5 million Ellison and his family received in a malpractice judgment against the Department of Veterans Affairs was the largest against the agency in a dozen years -- and one of more than 400 payments the U.S. government made last year to resolve VA malpractice claims, according to agency records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The total cost came to $91.7 million, also the highest sum in at least 12 years.

Iraq war veteran SGT Luis Rosa-Valentin, who lost both of his legs, left arm and hearing while serving in Iraq shows the tattoo he got in memory of a friend killed in Iraq, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, in this July 30, 2008 file photo. Photographer: David S. Holloway/Getty Images The cases against the VA have included missed diagnoses, delayed treatment and procedures performed on wrong body parts. U.S. lawmakers and veterans’ advocates say they reflect deep flaws in the agency’s health-care system even as the department tends to more former troops, including those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The rapid rise in malpractice judgments against VA mirrors the emerging pattern of preventable veteran deaths and other patient safety issues at VA hospitals,” Representative Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican and chairman of the House veterans committee, said in an e-mailed statement. “What’s missing from the equation is not money or manpower -- it’s accountability.”

‘Not Warned’

Miller’s committee held a hearing in Pittsburgh today to probe lapses that include a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a VA hospital that killed at least five veterans and also led to malpractice claims. The VA’s inspector general is conducting a criminal investigation into the outbreak, which involved bacteria in the hospital system’s water, Robert Petzel, the department’s undersecretary for health, said during the hearing.

Family members of veterans who died after being exposed to the bacteria said the VA didn’t immediately let relatives know there was a potential health problem.

“For sixteen days my father was allowed to shower and drink the water without any warning,” said Robert Nicklas, whose father, William, a Navy veteran, died last year after the Pittsburgh VA outbreak.

“Why were we not warned?”

More Patients

More veterans are taking advantage of VA medical care, including those requiring more complex treatment. As many as 1.2 million additional soldiers are due to become veterans in the next four years. Some of the soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering post-traumatic stress disorder while others are living with injuries that would have been fatal in World War II or the Vietnam War.
The age of recent veterans may be a contributing factor in the rise of claims payments, said W. Robb Graham, an attorney in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who has represented former troops filing claims against the agency. Younger claimants tend to get larger malpractice payouts, often tied to how long victims will suffer, he said.

The median age range of veterans who served after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington was 25 to 34 years old, according to a 2011 Labor Department study. That’s compared to veterans who served during the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam eras, whose median age range was 65 and older, the study said.

Higher Payments

“If the VA cuts off the wrong leg of a veteran who is 70 years old and his life expectancy is 75, he’s entitled to five years of damages,” Graham said in a phone interview. “If they cut off the wrong leg of a veteran who is 25, you’re now dealing with someone who is entitled to 50 years of damages.” The department has 152 hospitals and about 19,000 doctors. Last year, the VA tended to 5.6 million veterans, a 32 percent increase from fiscal 2002, according to agency data.

“It’s the largest health-care system in the U.S., and they do an incredible amount of good work,” said Jerry Manar, deputy director of national veterans service at the Kansas City, Missouri-based Veterans of Foreign Wars. “However, there are so many more things they could do in terms of oversight that they don’t appear to be doing now. As a consequence, sometimes you wind up with poor results that were avoidable.”

The department is “deeply committed to providing the quality care and benefits our nation’s veterans have earned and deserve,” Gina Jackson, a VA spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. “If employee misconduct or failure to meet performance standards is found to have been a factor, VA will take appropriate corrective action immediately.”

Taxpayers’ Bill The 2012 malpractice payments stemmed from both court judgments and administration settlements. The payouts, made by the U.S. Treasury’s Judgment Fund, rose 28 percent last year from about $72 million in 2011, the VA records showed. Taxpayers have spent at least $700 million to resolve claims filed against the veterans agency since 2001, according to the data.
Many valid VA malpractice claims never get paid, said attorney Graham, who served as a judge advocate general in the Navy in the 1980s. Some are rejected because paperwork isn’t filed properly, he said.

“My strong belief is a lot of lawyers don’t know how to sue the VA,” he said.

Some law firms aren’t interested in representing people suing the federal government because of laws that limit attorney fees to 25 percent of malpractice awards, Graham said.

‘An Alarming Pattern’

In a May letter, Representative Miller asked President Barack Obama to help address “an alarming pattern of serious and significant patient care issues” at VA medical facilities.

The House panel is reviewing the Legionnaires’ outbreak in Pennsylvania, and the department’s handling of two overdose deaths and two suicides at an Atlanta veterans hospital. Also under scrutiny are poor sterilization procedures and possible patient exposure to infectious diseases such as HIV at VA locations.

“We are not here as part of a witch-hunt, to make VA look bad or to score political points,” Miller said during the hearing. “We simply want to ensure that veterans across the country are receiving the care and benefits they have earned.”

The agency isn’t holding employees, especially executives, accountable for preventable deaths, Miller said. Department officials also gave bonuses to doctors even if they practiced without a license or left residents unsupervised during surgery, according to a Government Accountability Office report last month.

VA Bonuses

The recipients of $150 million in bonuses to VA health-care providers in fiscal 2011 included a radiologist unable to read a mammogram and an emergency-room doctor who refused to see patients, the report found.

Miller has said the VA employees should be punished -- not rewarded -- for their incompetence.
The number of malpractice claims filed with the VA has remained at 1,544 for the past two years, said Jackson, the agency spokeswoman. The leveling off came after a 33 percent spike in cases to 1,670 between 2010 and 2005, according to an October 2011 GAO report.

The VA’s malpractice payment rates may be similar to national levels, said Anupam B. Jena, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and physician at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ellison’s Case

Less than 25 percent of the claims filed against the veterans agency result in payment, according to the VA. About 20 percent of malpractice claims filed with the largest insurer of physicians between 1991 and 2005 resulted in a payment, according to a 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said Jena, who worked on the report.

Last year’s “noticeable increase” in medical malpractice payments was partly due to an “exceptionally large” $17.5 million court judgment, Jackson said in an e-mail. Such payments are “highly variable from year to year,” she said.

That record judgment went to Ellison, who was honorably discharged from the Marines in 2001. He was a 49-year-old electronics technician from Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, in 2007 when he visited the dentist to have eight teeth extracted because of tooth decay and gum disease.

During the procedure at a VA facility in Philadelphia, Ellison’s blood pressure dropped several times to “unusually low” levels, his attorney, Shanin Specter, a partner at Kline & Specter P.C., a law firm in the city, said during a 2011 trial.

‘Catastrophic’ Stroke

Ellison wasn’t sent to the emergency room, and the dentist continued with the extractions, said Specter, son of Arlen Specter, the former senator from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican for more than 28 years and became a Democrat during his last 20 months in office. Arlen Specter died last year. Ellison had a “catastrophic” stroke while driving his car shortly after leaving the dentist office, Specter said.

The government argued that the veteran’s existing health problems caused the stroke, not the care he received at the VA. Ellison had a history of smoking, diabetes, hypertension and many other stroke risk factors, Thomas Johnson, an assistant U.S. attorney, said during the 2011 trial in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

After the stroke, Ellison was left with limited vocabulary, “severe and pervasive deficits in all mental abilities,” and “negative personality changes,” according to court documents.

“He wound up being totally incapacitated, requiring 24-hour-a-day care,” Specter said. “This is about as devastating an injury as a person can have, and that’s what the award reflects.”


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Source: Bloomberg (Miller, 9/09)

New Texas law: Paramedics can do blood draw on scene for DWI suspects

Starting Sunday, a new state law has taken effect in Texas to make it easier for the long arm of the law to catch up with drivers who have had too much to drink.

The new law, passed this spring by the Texas Legislature, says that if officers think alcohol played a factor in a crash, paramedics at the scene can draw your blood.

The law comes just in time for Labor Day weekend, a holiday when many folks are going to drink -- and some may try to drive.

"In the last legislative session, the legislation addressed an issue of whether EMTs could take blood in relation to intoxication behind the wheel, be it an accident issue or an arrest," said Susan Reed, Bexar County district attorney.

The change came from a state court opinion from years ago.

"Now in Bexar County, what that means is we have already established a system of taking blood and doing blood warrants and DWIs."

Now, add paramedics to that.

"We could develop a system of mobile units, using EMTs to do that," she said. "But remember, it is still the circumstance of having the sanitary place."

But at the end of the day, the DA says it's a good move -- especially for Labor Day weekend.

"It actually gives us more options and more ability to do warrants and do blood draws in relation to DWI."

The new law will allow 6,000 paramedics across the state to draw blood if the police at the scene ask for it.

More patrols will be out looking for impaired drivers for the holiday weekend. The Texas DPS is increasing DWI patrols through Sept. 9.

Last year, DPS troopers made nearly 2,000 DWI arrests.

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Source: KVUE (Cooper, 9/1)

Injured 'Texas' dancer's condition improves

The “Texas” company member who was injured in an accident north of Dumas last week that killed five people has improved, Northwest Texas Hospital Caytie Martin spokeswoman said.

Timothy Johnson, 30, of Portland, Ore., now is in satisfactory condition at the hospital, said Caytie Martin of Northwest.

About 11:30 p.m. Aug. 12, after leaving a “Texas” end-of-summer party, a Ford Taurus carrying six cast and crew members in the production ran a stop sign at the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 119 and U.S. Highway 287 and was struck by a tractor-trailer.

Authorities said the rig’s load toppled onto the driver’s side of the car.

Clint Diaz, 20, of Amarillo; Andrew Duncan, 20, of Wichita Falls; Amanda Starz, 20, of Timonium, Md.; Julian Arredondo IV, 24, of Haltom City; and Eric Harrison, 21, of Fort Worth died in the crash.

Johnson and the driver of the tractor-trailer — Theron Arthur McSay, 70, of Fort Collins, Colo. — were injured in the accident and transported to Northwest.

McSay was released from the hospital this week.

Department of Public Safety officials said officers found alcoholic beverage containers in the Taurus, and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission authorities are investigating the party attended by the “Texas” company members, which was held at Coldwater Ranch, owned by former Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation board member Joe Batson.

“We’ve held the party there for the last 22 years,” said Kris Miller, executive director of the foundation and a “Texas” cast member.

Miller, who said he attended the party, said no alcohol was being served to minors, but attendees 21 and older were allowed to bring their own beverages.

Two of the final week’s performances of “Texas” were canceled, but the final three shows of the musical’s 48th season went on as scheduled.

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Source: Amarillo (Bryant, 8/23)

Unsafe welding led to fatal Gulf accident

A consultant's report for a Texas-based company says a deadly 2012 explosion on its Gulf of Mexico oil platform off the Louisiana coast happened when workers for a subcontractor used unsafe welding practices.

The report was released Wednesday, the same day two injured workers and their spouses filed a $180 million federal lawsuit in connection with the accident. ABSG Consulting did the study and report for Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations, which released the report and also made it available on its website.

Three Filipino workers died in the Nov. 16 accident, which occurred at a time when production was shut down and a construction project was underway on the platform, according to the report.

ABSG says Grand Isle Shipyard Inc. was under contract for construction work when the blast happened. ABSG says Grand Isle had committed not to use subcontractors on Black Elk projects. However, the report says, workers doing the welding were employees of a subcontractor: DNR Offshore and Crewing Services.

A series of explosions occurred when workers were welding a pipe leading to a tank, known as a "wet oil tank," according to the report.

"The WOT contained hydrocarbons, and the piping leading to it had not been isolated and made safe for welding," the ABSG report said.

The report said Grand Isle and another contractor overseeing work on the platform, identified as Wood Group PSN, did not properly carry out welding processes, sometimes referred to as "hot work." It said Grand Isle and DNR failed to stop work when "unexpected conditions" _ including the smell of gas _ arose.

Grand Isle's use of a subcontractor was a factor in the accident because it prevented Black Elk from "effectively auditing the employers of all personnel on their facilities," the report said.

The consultant also recommended that Black Elk provide additional oversight for construction activities on platforms and discourage the use of "hot work" on platforms.

Black Elk, Wood Group and others are named as defendants in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans by two workers injured in the accident, Antonio Tamayo and Wilberto Ilagan, and their spouses.

Alleging physical and mental injuries, numerous medical expenses and loss of future wages, among other things, the four ask for $20 million each in actual damages, plus a total of $100 million in punitive damages "if any of the defendants are found to have been grossly or intentionally negligent."

Black Elk did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment on the lawsuit. Grand Isle officials did not immediately return a call for comment. A Louisiana attorney who has done work for DNR did not return a call for comment.

A Wood Group spokeswoman declined immediate comment, pending review of the report.

The federal agency that oversees offshore oil and gas safety, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, is still investigating the accident, a spokeswoman, Eileen Angelico, said in response to an email query. The bureau received the consultant's report and was reviewing it, Angelico said.

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Source: Brownsville Herald (AP, 8/21)