Lawsuit filed on behalf of younger ladies whose mother and father died in Redwood Metropolis road racing crash
(BCN) — A wrongful demise lawsuit is being introduced on behalf of 7-year-old twin ladies whose mother and father had been killed in a crash brought on by road racing.
A household of 4 — mother and father and the twins — had been driving house from the women’ grandmother’s home shortly earlier than Christmas final yr after they had been struck by a automobile shifting 100 mph, killing each mother and father, Gregory Ammen and Grace Spiridon, immediately. They had been lower than 10 minutes away from their San Carlos house on the time of the crash.
The twins, Madison and Olivia Ammen, survived and suffered minor accidents.
In keeping with the grievance filed within the lawsuit, two residents of San Mateo County, Cesar Salto Morales and Kyle Harrison, had been allegedly racing one another down El Camino Actual in Redwood Metropolis, a busy road with a velocity restrict of 35 mph, resulting in the crash.
After they pulled as much as the identical visitors gentle, Morales challenged Harrison to a race as the 2 revved their engines forwards and backwards, in accordance with Harrison’s account to regulation enforcement, the grievance states. Passengers in Morales’ automobile, recognized within the grievance as E.S. and J.M., shouted at Harrison to impress him to race whereas a passenger in Harrison’s automobile yelled at Morales to “blow the sunshine.”
As the sunshine turned inexperienced, the 2 automobiles accelerated at a velocity of roughly 75 to 80 mph, in accordance with witness accounts. Morales struck the entrance passenger facet of the Ammens’ automobile as they approached the identical intersection, launching their automobile over 100 ft.
The lawsuit is being introduced by Michael Ammen, the twins’ uncle, in opposition to Morales, Harrison, minor passengers E.S. and J.M. in addition to Morales’ mother and father.
Morales’ mother and father, the lawsuit alleged, had been conscious of their son’s “proclivity for reckless driving.” Because the mother and father allegedly allowed him to drive on the night time of the crash regardless of this information, Michael Ammen is suing them for negligent entrustment.
Michael Ammen is looking for compensatory and basic damages in opposition to the defendants in addition to any damages allowable beneath the wrongful demise statute and reduction for previous and future medical, incidental, family and repair bills on behalf of the twins. He’s additionally pursuing reduction for legal professional’s charges if the defendants are convicted of a felony. Their felony case remains to be pending in San Mateo County Superior Courtroom.
The method of going by the lawsuit has been “painful as anything coping with this tragedy,” Michael Ammen mentioned.
“It’s one thing we now have to relive on a regular basis whether or not we wish to or not,” he mentioned. “There are days the place we’re coping with the lawsuit and reliving it and there are days the place we are attempting to get on with our lives and having to relive it.”
Above all, Michael Ammen mentioned he hopes that this lawsuit may also help forestall extra crashes from reckless driving from occurring.
This case sheds gentle on the rising drawback of road racing in California, mentioned Niall McCarthy, an legal professional representing Madison and Olivia Ammen.
“This case arises from a brutal indifference to human life,” McCarthy mentioned in a press launch. “The Bay Space has an epidemic of people that gamble with the lives of others by road racing.”
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In keeping with a 2022 press launch from the California Freeway Patrol, they noticed a rise within the variety of incidents that occurred attributable to unsafe driving behaviors, together with road racing. Within the interval between January 2021 and September 2022, the CHP issued over 40,000 citations to motorists exceeding 100 mph.
Final month, the CHP launched a marketing campaign known as “Thrills that Kill,” which is a part of an effort to finish unlawful road racing and sideshows. Over the course of 5 years, the CHP reported, there have been 264 crashes — together with 30 deadly and 124 leading to accidents — linked with road racing and sideshows.
“If we will forestall one other accident like this and get mother and father to talk to their teenage drivers concerning the risks of getting behind the wheel, that’s actually our purpose,” Michael Ammen mentioned.
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