Philadelphia Car and Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

Haylee Dawn Ledford, a 7-year-old killed in an ATV accident near George Poston Park in Lowell, North Carolina on January 12, 2008, was not wearing a helmet as required by law, Gaston County Police reported this week. The little girl died from severe head injuries, according to an autopsy performed Monday.

She was a passenger on the ATV driven by her mother Diane Whitson’s boyfriend Charles Scott Rollins, 36, who lives near the park at 200 Rhyne-Oakland Road. They were riding in the county park at about 4:40 p.m. when the ATV overturned.

“Right now we know its head trauma that killed her,” said Gaston County Police Sgt.
Christie Rhoney. “She was pronounced dead at the scene. That’s how severe it was.”
“They should have been wearing helmets,” Rhoney said.

Riding an ATV without a helmet is against state law in North Carolina and many other states. Signs posted at the park say riding motorized vehicles there is prohibited, as well.

As of the writing of this blog, Rollins was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, trespassing with an ATV, and an ATV helmet violation, according to the Gaston County Police Department.

If you or a loved one has been killed in a vehicle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced vehicle accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

In yesterday's blog, we reported some information about the tragic bus accident on a rural northern California road that injured several and killed ten. New details of the crash indicate that 35 people were seriously injured and eight died.

The driver of the bus has been charged with suspicion of driving under the influence according to the California Highway Patrol, and it was the man's very first day on the job.

The license plate on the bus was invalid as were some serial numbers and the vehicle's registration.

The bus was enroute to a remote California casino when the accident occurred at 6:10 p.m. Witnesses say the bus was swerving right before it went off the road. The driver overcorrected and the bus rolled at least once before landing in a ditch.

The accident is still under investigation at the time of this writing. If you live in Philadelphia and have been injured in a vehicle accident, please contact the lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis, LLP today to schedule your confidential consultation.

Details have emerged in the horrific bus accident that took place on a rural northern California road Sunday evening, and it seems the bus didn’t even have a valid license plate. According to details provided by the California Highway Patrol, the bus was headed from Sacramento a casino when it flipped and rolled into a ditch. Eyewitnesses say the bus "cartwheeled" into the ditch around 6:15 p.m. Pacific time.

At the time of this writing, up to 38 people may have been critically injured and ten are dead. About 12 of the victims were actually ejected from the bus during the crash. The bus driver is alive but in critical condition at this time. The driver was walking around after the crash but had suffered a very serious injury. He was unable to give a statement due to the injury. One report has indicated that the driver is on some kind of medication.

Reports also indicate that the bus was old, had no valid plate and no seatbelts.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a vehicle accident in Pennsylvania, please contact the office of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your confidential consultation.

It has been confirmed that the engineer of the train that crashed near Los Angeles and killed 25 people was texting on his cell phone 22 seconds before the trains collided after he ran through a stop signal.

The NTSB also determined that the brakes on the train were not applied before the collision and that the stop signals were working at the time of the horrific accident, one of the worst in California’s history. The report further states that in two hours while the engineer was operating the train, he received a total of 21 text messages and sent more than two dozen himself. Clearly, the engineer was not paying attention driving this locomotive at the time of the collision.

Metrolink, the engineer’s employer, actually bans the use of cell phones on the job, but at this time, there is no federal or state regulation barring the use of cell phones by engineers on moving trains. More than 130 people were injured in this September 12 accident, and the Metrolink engineer was among the dead.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a vehicle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the attorneys at Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your confidential consultation.