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Four-Year-Old Fresno Boy Killed in Easter Sunday Accident
March 25, 2008

It was supposed to be an exciting Easter egg hunt for 4-year-old Elias Anthony Pico. He was on his way to a relative's house with his father, where the kids were to take part in an Easter egg hunt. By all accounts, his father Anthony Pico did everything he could to make sure his child was safe in the back seat. Elias was in a car seat in the middle rear seat, and was safely restrained.

But he hadn't reckoned with the sort of lunatic recklessness that comes when a driver has seen fit to step behind the wheel, after drinking more than is appropriate. The Pico family's Nissan Altima was traveling west on American Avenue and slowed down to turn into the driveway of the house where his cousin Victoria Cerpa was getting things ready for the Easter egg hunt. Elias never got to participate in the hunt. A 2002 Toyota Tacoma, driven by Stephen Watson and traveling at 60 miles per hour, slammed into the Altima from the rear. The impact of the crash caused the Altima to spin around and hit a concrete wall. Little Elias was killed instantly. He was his parent's only child.

The Tacoma continued on ahead for a while before coming to a stop near a chain link fence. Watson tried to make a run for it, but was chased by Anthony's relatives, who by this time had all come out of the house. He was restrained until the police were called to the scene.

The other passengers in the car, including a man, a woman and a 6-year-old child sustained minor injuries. Anthony Pico himself received minor injuries.

The car the family was driving was a rental, as their own car was at the service station. The Altima was much smaller than their car, and police at the scene said the injuries might not have been so tragic if it had been a bigger car.

Watson has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, gross vehicular manslaughter and felony hit and run. This wasn't a teenage boy out in his dad's car with his friends, kicking up a storm. This was an adult 45-year-old man who can't possible argue that he wasn't aware of the potential for danger when he decided to drive drunk. In fact, we should probably not even call this an "accident."

We need to stop dealing with drunken driving like it's a frat boy-type mistake. Punishments for drunken driving in the country are nowhere close to where they should be. Many times offenders get away with a slap on the wrist and nothing more. Is it any wonder then that so many drunken driving cases are by repeat offenders?

It's beyond senseless that a family has to lose their only child to the recklessness of another, and that too, on Easter. In cases like this, making the driver pay financial compensation that could cripple him and making him serve jail time is what could send a strong message to other drivers.

If you or a family member have been injured or killed 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.

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Man Charged in Fatal Crash
March 19, 2008

It was an accident that bought to mind the deaths of the Coble children last year, when their car was rear-ended by a trailer. Early in February this year, three young children and their grandmother were killed in Arkansas in a similar accident that eliminated an entire generation of a family in a horrible manner.

The crash occurred on February 6 at 2:40 am. The Crapps' family was returning from a vacation in Pensacola, Florida. The three children, 9-year-old Jada, 7-year-old Hunter and 3-year-old Kaden were with their grandmother Althea Crapps, who was driving. The children's mother, her aunt and her boyfriend followed in their car. A red pickup driven by Steven William, a 28-year-old man from Bryant, was heading in the wrong direction. Apparently, troopers already had been made aware that a red pickup truck was going the wrong way in the northbound lane with its headlights off.

By the time troopers could reach the spot where the pickup was last sighted going the wrong way, he had already crashed into the Crapps' car.

All four occupants of the car died instantly. According to the passengers in the car that was traveling behind them, they didn't even see the red pickup before it collided into the vehicle.

On Tuesday, Steven Williams was charged with 4 counts of homicide. Since the crash he has been detained at the county detention center pending a cash bail amount of $200,000. He had been briefly taken to the Jefferson Regional Medical Center for treatment of injuries sustained during the crash.

Williams was so drunk at the time of the crash he could barely speak. According to police officers, who first arrived at the crash scene, he was unsteady on his feet, reeked of alcohol and had a blank and vacant stare. He was sweating profusely, and was wearing Mardi Gras beads. He apparently told investigators that he had just attended a party in Little Rock. In short, this was not a man who was slightly above the alcohol limit. He was too drunk to stand on his feet, and had no business being anywhere behind the wheel. This wasn't a teenager who made a youthful mistake. This was a grown adult who showed such irresponsibility it's hard to see how he can be found anything but guilty.

We hope the story doesn't end here. An entire generation of a family was wiped out because Williams was too careless to ask somebody for a ride home, or too cheap to fork out the money to hire a cab. In his alcohol induced stupor, he endangered countless other vehicles on the road by driving the wrong way before finally causing the ultimate damage to a family. The children's mother will find it hard to think beyond the fact that she lost all her children in one shot, but we hope she realizes that there are avenues to be explored to make Williams pay in a manner that will really hurt. It won't heal her suffering, but it will ensure that a homicidal maniac will be too financially crippled to get back to a normal life.

If you have been injured, or a loved one has been killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver, you need an experienced California personal injury attorney to defend your rights. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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