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8 Dead as Vehicles Plunge into Canal After Central Valley Car Accident
July 16, 2008

The bodies of five farm laborers who are believed to have drowned after a two-car accident at the Delta-Mendota Canal as they returned from work, have been recovered, and another two are still missing.

The farm laborers were on their way back from picking peaches in a red SUV along the canal, while a commercial vehicle used for septic tank maintenance was driving westward on the same route. The speed of the two vehicles has not been determined. When the car accident occurred on the small bridge over the canal, both vehicles smashed through the barricades, and into the deep water. At the time of the car accident, experts have ascertained that the water was about 17 feet deep, and the currents were very strong. In other words, a survival was a distant hope.

So far, police investigations have revealed no details about the cause of the accident. All that remains at the scene of the car accident are skid marks of one of the vehicles as it went over the guardrail. The farm laborers are all immigrants, and most were in their teens or early twenties. As soon as news of the car accident spread, relatives of the immigrants began gathering at the scene, and Spanish language translators helped relay information to worried relatives. Disaster crews that reached the scene of the car accident say that it was obvious that there was not going to be any rescue in this particular tragedy, only recovery of bodies.

People in the neighborhood say the canal has been a death magnet for a while now, and it’s common to have accidents similar to this one, happening at least two or three times a year. Just three years ago, a similar car accident – this one too involving farm laborers - occurred, that killed four farm laborers who drowned when their vehicle went off the road and into the canal. Residents in the neighborhood also complain that the guardrail is of substandard quality, with light spacing. Obviously, the guardrail doesn’t seem to have been much of a ”barricade” to the two vehicles’ tragic fall down into the canal.

We need to take these claims of substandard guardrails at the bridge seriously, and look into whether there was indeed any negligence on the part of those responsible for the bridge’s or guardrail’s upkeep that could have resulted in this being an unreasonably dangerous highway.

Very often, laborers have very few people in their corner ready to fight on their side, with the result that a number of injustices go undetected and unpunished. These are hard working people who come here to do all the jobs we’re not interested in doing.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car 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.

 

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Burglar Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder in Carlsbad Car Accident
July 07, 2008

During his trial for a series of offences, including first-degree murder and burglary, Karl Russell informed the judge that he didn't remember anything of the 2006 car accident in Carlsbad that he caused, which led to the death of another motorist. He saw blinding lights from heaven, he claimed, and was convinced that it was some surreal near-death experience or sign from above. When his other-worldly experience had passed, the unfortunate motorist, Rodrigo Vega, was dead from injuries he received after his vehicle collided with a speeding and reckless Russell.

The heavens may have been kind enough to bless him with a divine light, but the judge hearing his case was in no mood for such benevolence. He has found Russell guilty of a series of offences, including first-degree murder and burglary. Russell has also been found guilty of vehicle theft and causing serious injury and death while evading police arrest after the car accident.

On September 5, 2006, Russell was actually on the run from a burglary that he had just committed with another partner at an Oceanside residence just 15 minutes earlier. He was on the run from the police, who were hot on his chase. The 1994 Oldsmobile he was driving was also a stolen vehicle. Add to this, he was drunk and speeding at 100 miles-per-hour.

Close to 4:50 am, he approached the intersection of El Camino Real and Plaza Drive, where he collided with a pickup. The driver of that pickup, Rodrigo Vega, was thrown from his seat and killed. He was on his way to work at the Callaway Golf Club when the car accident occurred.

After the car accident, Russell's blood alcohol limit was measured at .13. His attorneys argued on any number of technicalities - that he had already dropped off his burglar buddy a few moments before the car accident, so technically he wasn't really on the run from the cops, and so on. Thankfully, the judge seems to have been in no mood to be lenient with a burglar in a stolen car, speeding and drinking without control, who killed another driver through his behavior. Technicalities and visions of divine lights were obviously not sufficient to get Russell off the hook.

Sentencing for him will be announced on August 26, and Russell faces up to 26 years in prison. Considering the amount of destruction he's caused to the family of Rodrigo Vera and others who have been impacted by his brazen disregard of the laws and criminal activity, prison seems like the safest place for him to be in.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car 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.

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