Posted on August 08, 2012 in Uncategorized

The Dallas Morning news reported a story about an officer who will not be prosecuted for a shot that left a man paralyzed. A judge dismissed a felony aggravated assault indictment against Officer Johnathan Yates, but a $700,000 settlement was reached with Elijah Robinson, 22, the man wounded in the 2009 shooting. Often, police officers are fired when they are indicted, but Yates was transferred to another city department, where he is working in a non-police capacity. Lieutenant Bill Hedgpeth, a police spokesman, said: “Based upon the totality of the circumstances, the city felt the right and proper thing to do was to allow him to remain employed with the city while the case took its course through the system.” Hedgpeth added that preventing Yates from providing for his family while the case remained active would have been wrong. Court records say that the incident took place when police were looking for a silver Chrysler 300 with an armed driver, a known drug user. Mesquite Police Officer Cory Doyle spotted a silver Chrysler 300 matching the description, and a check indicated it had been stolen. Officer Doyle followed the car until it stopped and addressed the driver through his speaker system. The driver followed Doyle’s directions, until he got out of the car after Doyle told him to unlatch his door. Yates told the court he saw the man holding something and pointing it towards officer Doyle, so he took a single shot to protect Doyle. Robinson had keys, a cellphone, a lighter, and a Hong Kong silver dollar on him, but no gun. The bullet severed Robinson’s spine and left him in a wheelchair, so he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit saying Yates used excessive force. There are many others ways to be injured or end up paralyzed in addition to a shooting, and our personal injury lawyers in New Braunfels can provide you with legal advice on what to do next. If you find yourself or a loved one injured or paralyzed not by your own actions, you may be eligible for compensation. Make sure you have the help you need, and get an experienced lawyer to help you. Contact a New Braunfels personal injury attorney today.

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 Posted on August 04, 2012 in Uncategorized

A drunk driver crashed his car on the Kennedy Expressway with passengers screaming at him to slow down, resulting in the death of a 23-year-old woman, says a story in the Chicago Tribune. According to the prosecutors, the man just kept speeding through traffic, completely ignoring his passengers’ cries.

Pavlo Lulak, 24, had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he crashed his Mitsubishi Lancer. With a blood-alcohol content of .207, Lulak left by car after going to a nightclub. He had 7 passengers in his car, and among them was Maryan Holovii, 23, who was sitting on another passenger’s lap in the back seat when Lulak crashed the car.

According to prosecutors, there were witnesses for the case, saying Lulak was drinking whiskey at a house party before going to Prop House on 1675 N. Elston Avenue, where he drank beer until his group left. They left the club after 4 a.m., and Lulak hit an SUV of an off-duty Chicago police officer on their way home from the club. Lulak lost control of the blue Mitsubishi and hit the safety barries, after which the car hit and slid along the expressway’s concrete wall.

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 Posted on August 01, 2012 in Uncategorized

In an article posted on MySanAntonio.com, there was a devastating accident that set off a chain reaction of other accidents early Monday morning on July 30^th. The accident occurred on the northbound lanes of I-35 at around 3 am near Schertz, Texas. A car was traveling the wrong way and slammed into a SUV carrying a family of five. This accident did not cause any serious injuries but set the scene for a distressing event.

By-standers started to rush to the scene from their cars and a nearby rest area. As they tried to help the people affected by the initial crash, three people were killed by a tanker driver who didn’t notice the first car accident. One man, named Hector Cordova, had stopped his bus to assist when he was ran over and killed. Another woman, named Emma Alcudia, was a longtime employee of the rest area who was trying to help the woman who was driving the wrong way. The last person who lost their live was the woman, Kathryn Harvard, who drove her Toyota Camry the wrong way.

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 Posted on July 30, 2012 in Uncategorized

New Braunfels’ “Smithson Valley High School family lost two of its own in separate tragedies” in mid-July, “one in Colorado and another closer to home,” according to the Herald-Zeitung. Jessica Ghawi, c/o 2006, was killed in the movie theatre massacre that rocked the nation in Aurora, Colorado, and on the same day, 16-year-old student Kali Gorzell died in a boating accident at Aransas Pass. Officers found Gorzell “unconscious and not breathing,” and she had reportedly been a passenger in a boat where something “went wrong and Kali fell from the boat,” according to the Herlad-Zeitung. She had suffered life-threatening injuries when she fell, and several media outlets reported after the accident that she had been “struck by the boat’s propeller.” According to the U.S. Coast Guard Boating Safety 2011, falls overboard were the fifth most common cause of accidents for boaters, with 359 incidents that resulted in 205 deaths in 2011. Open motorboats are the number one vessel for top casualty numbers, with 253 drownings alone in 2011. According to the report, most fatal boat accidents happen in the late afternoon and early evening, and July was the month with by far the most fatal incidents. While boat accidents are common, they’re avoidable. Nearly all boat accidents are operator-perpetuated. Operator Inattention, Improper Lookout, Inexperience, and Excessive Speed are the top four known primary contributing factors of boat accidents, only then followed by Machinery Failure, Alcohol Use, and Hazardous Waters. If you or someone you know has been wrongly injured in a boating accident, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact a dedicated New Braunfels personal injury lawyer today.

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 Posted on July 27, 2012 in Uncategorized

A New Braunfels man was hit by an 18-wheeler truck on Highway 46, near Saengerhalle Road, in late July, according to FoxSanAntonio.com. The 18-wheeler was towed because of a suspected fuel spill, and the pickup truck driver who was injured was flown to University Hospital San Antonio. The man has not yet been identified by officials, but officials have confirmed that he is a 30-year-old male, and that the pick-up he was driving was rear-ended by the 18-wheeler. Neither the driver of the semi or of the car which the pick-up consequently hit were seriously injured. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the overall rate in fatal crashes involving large trucks per million vehicle miles traveled has dropped from 1975 to 2005. In 2005, there were 5,212 fatalities from crashes, which involved large trucks. A large truck is defined by the U.S. DOT as “a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds.” In 2005 there were 502 fatalities in crashes involving a large truck in Texas—the number one ranked state for these types of accidents. Lawsuits against wrongful injury directed at semi-truck companies and carriers are common. Often, truckers drive at late hours with little or no sleep, factors that contribute to the high rate of semi-truck and passenger vehicle crashes. If you’ve been involved in an accident with a semi-truck, you may be eligible for compensation, but it’s important to act fast. Semi-truck companies often destroy trucker logs after six months. If you or someone you know has been wrongfully injured in a semi-truck collision, don’t go through it alone. Contact an experienced New Braunfels personal injury attorney today.

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 Posted on July 23, 2012 in Uncategorized

A six-year-old child was run down by a rolling car in San Antonio in mid-July after the car’s owners forgot that the car was in neutral, according to KSAT.com. The child was taken to University Hospital in critical condition, and police have not yet released details about the family, or whether the injured child was the son or daughter of the car owners. The car was forgotten when the couple got into an argument and left the car in neutral. They did not notice the car rolling until it was too late and had already struck the six-year-old. If the child’s parents were not those whose car rolled, the child’s parents are well within their right to sue the other couple for negligence. Most cases brought to court for fatal neglect or negligence of a child are those in which the victim’s parents are the charged party. The most common form of parental negligence, according to a report issued by KidsAndCars.org is hyperthermia or overheating, when a child is left in a car in extreme temperature conditions. Fatal Neglect Cases, according to this report, are broken down into three categories:

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 Posted on July 20, 2012 in Uncategorized

Two people were arrested and thrown into jail in mid-July after fleeing the scene of a crash, according to KSAT.com. San Antonio police told the radio station that “the driver of a Cadillac Escalade was speeding on South Loop 410, right before Interstate 35, when he lost control and crashed.” Both the driver and the passenger of the car were lucky, as neither were injured. But they both fled the scene, which will ultimately land them in more trouble. “Police said the two didn’t get very far and were caught a quarter of a mile down the road.” They were both given a DWI test soon after being taken into custody and now both face charges of evading arrest. The driver of the vehicle faces charges of driving while intoxicated. Most crime scenes when a driver flees are those in which a third party has been injured, generally referred to as a Hit and Run. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, more than 1 in every 10 crashes (11 percent) involved a hit and run driver. Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety told CarInsurance.org that “about 60 percent of the people killed in hit and run crashes are pedestrians.” Most of these are in the evening, with 47 percent of total fatal hit and run crashes occurring between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. In the nighttime, 55 percent of all fatal accidents in the U.S. involve alcohol-impaired drivers. The drivers involved in the recent crash near San Antonio were lucky that they didn’t hit another car or injure any passengers, but their offense of running away carries penalties similar to a hit and run. If you or someone you know has been involved in an accident, especially one in which someone has been hurt, don’t go through it alone. Contact a dedicated New Braunfels injury attorney today.

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 Posted on July 17, 2012 in Uncategorized

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed in an ATV accident while on patrol near Fort Hancock early Friday evening, officials said Saturday.

Agent Leopoldo Cavazos Jr., 29, died in an ambulance on the way to an El Paso hospital, Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said.

Border Patrol officials did not release any details on how the crash occurred because they said the accident was under investigation. Fort Hancock is about 40 miles east of El Paso.

The Border Patrol regularly uses all-terrain vehicles to patrol the desert and other areas that regular vehicles have difficulty reaching.

“Every day, agents of the U.S. Border Patrol face inherent dangers as they serve our nation and their citizens with commitment, professionalism and enthusiasm,” the Border Patrol said in a news release.

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 Posted on July 14, 2012 in Uncategorized

The warm days of summer mean more time spent outdoors for families, children, and their canine companions. Unfortunately, a lovely day can quickly take an ugly turn when people, and especially children, get bitten by a dog. Sources say that the number of dog bite incidents is higher during summer months than it is during the rest of the year. According to Dr. Adam Weinfeld, a plastic surgeon, the increase in emergency room consults related to dog bites is noticeable during the summer. This goes for consults in general, but children are far more likely to get bitten than adults are. Weinfeld says that children are more exposed to dogs than adults, and in Weinfeld’s opinion, this is mainly because children are out of school, and they have more unsupervised time with dogs than they normally would. In addition, infants and toddlers are at the same eye level with dogs, which might seem threatening to some animals. Children are three times more likely than adults to get bitten, says Prevent a Bite, a nonprofit organization. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons also reported 29,000 dog bite-related reconstructive surgeries nationwide for last year. It is wise to keep your dog on a leash, and if you are out where dogs are running around freely, keep your distance to the animal. A dog bite can be a serious injury, and it could require surgery or other medical treatments. In case of such injury, you will need skilled and dedicated legal support. To get this support, contact a New Braunfels personal injury attorney.

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 Posted on July 11, 2012 in Uncategorized

Emergency service crews in Comal and Bexar counties responded to numerous traffic accidents last week in what proved to be an unusually busy time. In New Braunfels, crews responded to several accidents, with the first occurring at 1:45 Thursday afternoon.

Following the accident that occurred in the 1600 block of Highway 46 near Independence Drive, one of the vehicles involved flipped upside down as a result of the collision. EMS transported the driver to University Medical Center in San Antonio with what were termed non life-threatening injuries. The debris from the accident was so severe that crews took over two hours to clear the road and allow normal traffic to resume.

There were two additional wrecks reported on Thursday afternoon. The first was a two car accident that occurred in the 1400 block of Huisache just before 2:30 pm. One driver was later sent to Christus New Braunfels with non life threatening injuries. The final incident occurred at the 3000 block of FM just before 5pm. One person was also transported to Christus New Braunfels with non life-threatening injuries. Crews worked the scene of the accident for half an hour before the roads were cleared.

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