Tag: car crash
Tiny Debris Can Be Massive Piece To Solving Fatal Hit-And-Run Crash Cases

Tiny Debris Can Be Massive Piece To Solving Fatal Hit-And-Run Crash Cases

By Tiffany Walden, Orlando Sentinel (TNS)

ORLANDO, Fla. — When traffic investigators arrive at the scene of a fatal hit-and-run — a crime on the rise in Florida — the only clues might be some skid marks, or a few fragments from the car that fled.

What may seem like debris strewn across the highway, however, is investigative gold to traffic-homicide detectives trying to find the car and its driver.

Detectives hit the jackpot in September 2010 while sorting through the pieces of a broken chrome car grille after a driver killed a pedestrian on Landstar Boulevard near State Road 417 in Orange County and kept going.

One of the pieces was imprinted with a part number.

“That grille made for that car was one year only,” said Cpl. Brian Gensler of the Florida Highway Patrol’s Central Florida troop. “Every year, they change the dynamics of cars, so that (grille) was changed on that car.”

The part number led investigators to a black 2004 Cadillac Escalade with a Georgia license plate registered to Edgardo Martinez-Rivera, according to Gensler.

After investigators issued a “be on the lookout” to Florida law enforcement agencies, an Orange County deputy spotted the abandoned car Oct. 11, 2010, while on patrol near the Citrus Bowl — about 20 miles from the crash site.

The paint from the Escalade’s hood matched paint fragments left on the victim’s shirt from the impact of the crash. And a cigarette butt found on the driver’s side of the vehicle provided a DNA sample, court records show.

Martinez-Rivera served 218 days in jail for leaving the scene of a fatal crash. He is on probation until 2022.

“If we don’t have the (hit-and-run) car or the person, we’re looking for debris,” Gensler said. “From there, you’re looking for a serial number or type number from the car. That’s the biggest key if you don’t have the car or the person.

“Soon as (the crash) occurs, the clock is ticking,” Gensler said. “Usually the first 48 hours are critical, collecting and notating all the evidence.”

Such CSI-like techniques are increasingly important as the state contends with an increasing number of fatal and nonfatal hit-and-runs. In 2014, the FHP reported more than 80,000 hit-and-runs in Florida — up 7 percent from 2013.

Bill Barge, a retired 32-year FHP veteran, spends his retirement mentoring and training future traffic-homicide investigators on the science behind solving a hit-and-run.

He said DNA is the most important piece of the puzzle because the biological material — such as fingerprints and blood — can tell investigators exactly who was driving the hit-and-run car at the time of the crash.

“No matter what we do, we have to put (the driver) behind the wheel,” said Barge, 69.

Many times investigators have neither the car nor the driver at the scene. Other times the person responsible for the accident will leave the car behind and flee on foot.

Police say that’s what happened in a recent fatal rollover crash on U.S. Highway 441 in Apopka.

The driver jumped from the car and left his passenger dead inside.

“When we got there, we had a shoe right outside the driver’s door,” Apopka police Officer Ashley Eller said.

Officers eventually found the driver — with the other shoe still on — hiding near a retention pond not far from the scene.

The investigation doesn’t stop there. Detectives still have to find evidence placing the driver behind the wheel in order to have successful prosecution in court.

Eller couldn’t speak about the specifics because of the ongoing investigation.

But Sgt. Steve Gaskins, of FHP’s Tampa region, pointed out the importance of an air bag in a situation like that.

“The air bags are going to have the DNA of the person it struck,” Gaskins said. “All I need to know is who the driver’s air bag hit. That’s the crucial part.”

Barge added that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which processes DNA and other evidence in criminal cases, will use laser technology to pull a shoe print off the accelerator or brake.

Then detectives can match the shoe print to those on the bottom of the suspect’s shoes.

“No evidence is too small,” said Brian Rodriguez, a 16-year officer with the Altamonte Springs Police Department. “If you don’t gather your evidence the proper way, you can lose a case. So everything you do from start to finish is very important.”

Photo: Officer Ashley Eller of Orlando Police Department’s traffic homicide division gestures towards a wrecked vehicle on August 4, 2015. (Tiffany Walden/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

Tracy Morgan More Responsive In Wake Of Accident, Publicist Says

Tracy Morgan More Responsive In Wake Of Accident, Publicist Says

By Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times

Comedian Tracy Morgan remained in critical condition in a New Jersey hospital Sunday with broken ribs, a broken leg and a broken nose, his publicist said, following a six-vehicle chain-reaction wreck that killed one of Morgan’s friends and mentors.

Morgan underwent surgery on his leg at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., according to a statement from Morgan’s publicist, Lewis Kay, who added that the former “30 Rock” and “Saturday Night Live” star was more responsive on Sunday.

“We expect him to remain in the hospital for several weeks,” Kay said. “His family is tremendously overwhelmed and appreciative of the outpouring of love and support from his fans.”

Morgan was hospitalized after his chauffeured limousine van, also carrying comedians Ardie Fuqua and Harris Stanton, was struck from behind early Saturday by a Wal-Mart truck, New Jersey police said. Another passenger, comedian James “Jimmy Mack” McNair, died in the crash.

The Georgia-based driver of the truck, Kevin Roper, 35, has been charged with one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto, the prosecutor’s office of Middlesex County, N.J., said. Roper turned himself in Saturday evening and posted $50,000 bail, New Jersey state trooper Greg Williams said.

Williams said there was no initial indication that alcohol or drugs played a factor, but the crash remained under investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board will work with New Jersey State Police to investigate if any elements of the crash are related to commercial trucking and limousine safety, such as vehicle maintenance and drug and alcohol testing of drivers, said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway.

“At this point, we are just gathering factual information,” Holloway said. “We have not proposed any action.”

Photo via Flickr

One Child Dead, 14 Hurt In Hit-And-Run Crash At Florida Day-Care Center

One Child Dead, 14 Hurt In Hit-And-Run Crash At Florida Day-Care Center

By Jeff Weiner, Susan Jacobson and Amy Pavuk, Orlando Sentinel

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Joel Rosado sprinted to the scene as soon as he heard the screeches and saw a black Toyota Solara plow into the Goldenrod Road KinderCare, where a four-year-old girl lay dying and 14 others were injured.

“We could see the teachers were, like, panicking,” Rosado said. One was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a child, and other children were bleeding — “laid out, not moving.”

As the horror unfolded, panicked parents scrambled to the scene and authorities started an immediate manhunt for 28-year-old Robert Corchado, who they say was driving the Dodge Durango that rammed the Toyota toward the building in Winter Park, north of Orlando.

The driver of the Durango didn’t stop to see the carnage and chaos he left behind Wednesday afternoon.

It all started about 3 p.m.

The Solara, which had been turning into a driveway separating the day-care center from Goldenrod Plaza professional offices, barreled through the parking lot, through a bush and into the KinderCare building, according to preliminary Florida Highway Patrol information.

Rosado, who was working on the roof of a nearby gas station, climbed down and ran to the center.

“It was bad,” he said. The driver of the Solara, Albert Dean Campbell, 61, of Winter Park, emerged uninjured but visibly emotional, Rosado said.

Rescue crews descended on the day care, and news helicopters captured images of small children being removed from the day care on stretchers.

Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall said earlier in the day at least 15 people were hurt in the crash, 13 of whom were taken to hospitals. Twelve were children. The injured were rushed to four different hospitals.

Mulhall said they were being treated for a “variety of injuries, both severe and mild.”

“This was a very intense scene, a very severe scene,” Mulhall said.

Said FHP Trooper Wanda Diaz of the injuries: “Some are very, very serious.”

After conflicting reports for most of the day, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando confirmed the first death about 6:45 p.m. The girl’s name was not released.

One other patient was in critical condition, and five more were in serious condition, the hospital said. Another patient had been released by Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the hunt was on for Corchado.

Authorities found the Durango at a house on Orange Avenue in Winter Park — its bumper left behind at the crash scene.

Neighbors who milled about as troopers investigated said the SUV was one of several vehicles routinely parked outside.

One nearby resident who did not want to be identified said the Durango drove up the street with a distinct clanking sound. A man wearing a red shirt and black hat parked it in the driveway and left a short while later, the neighbor said.

Four neighbors said vehicles come and go from the salmon-colored house at all hours, especially Thursday and Friday nights.

About 18 months ago, one neighbor said, a man was seen sneaking after dark up to the house and slashing the tires of a vehicle parked outside. When the people inside the house were told of the vandalism and asked if they wanted deputies called, the neighbor was told, “We don’t want any cops.”

The people living there Wednesday could not be reached for comment, while at least five FHP troopers stood outside.

The search for Corchado soon led to Orlando International Airport, where police were on the lookout for several hours.

Troopers said they were concerned that he planned to fly out of town, but late Wednesday the search shifted to a black Mazda SUV, which authorities say Corchado rented in Winter Park.

He was still at large late Wednesday, as information of his past run-ins with law enforcement began to surface.

Records show Corchado was sentenced to three years in prison in 2010 on cocaine-trafficking charges stemming from an arrest in May 2009. He was released in September 2012 but arrested in December in Seminole County.

In that case, which is still pending, Corchado faces charges of heroin and cocaine possession with intent to sell, as well as leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage.

He was released from jail on more than $10,000 bail. Corchado served another prison stint almost a decade ago for extortion, records show.

On Wednesday evening, state troopers and Seminole County deputies were at a house on Grand Avenue in Winter Park listed as Corchado’s in state corrections records.

Earlier in the day, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, speaking at the scene, implored area residents to be vigilant and to pray for the injured and their families.

“Keep them in your prayers … together we will find whoever is responsible for this,” she said. Jacobs was later seen arriving with one of the families at Arnold Palmer Hospital. She left a short time later, her eyes red with tears, and said she could not comment further.

Parents flocked to the day care after the crash to retrieve their children. Some parents and young ones were seen crying, others talking to firefighters and investigators.

Talmus Williams, 36, whose two-year-old son attends the day-care center, got a news alert and hurried to pick up the boy.

He and other parents lined up at a shopping center at Goldenrod Road and University Boulevard, where they showed identification and picked their children up.

Williams’ son, Jaydrien, was unharmed.

Jaydrien’s mother, 39-year-old Evette Rivera, said she saw “a huge hole” in the side of the building that led into a classroom.

By Wednesday evening, the Solara had been extracted from that chasm.

Knowledge Universe, the parent corporation of the Goldenrod day-care center, calls itself the largest U.S. private provider of early-childhood education, with more than 200,000 children at 1,700 centers in 39 states.

Besides its KinderCare Learning Centers, it operates a series of education businesses, including Champions, Cambridge Schools, Knowledge Beginnings and Grove Schools, and employs about 40,000 employees, according to corporate records.

In a statement, Knowledge Universe said the day care’s staff acted quickly to assess the injured children and notify parents.

“Our thoughts are with all of our families and staff, and we are pulling for those who have been injured to quickly recover from this tragic accident,” the statement said.

Photo: Dow Constantine, King County Executive via Flickr

Woman, 4 Children Killed In California Collision

Woman, 4 Children Killed In California Collision

By Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times

A mother and her four children died in an accident near Fresno, California, as the woman’s husband tried in vain to pull them from the fiery wreckage of their car, authorities said Sunday.

The 29-year-old mother, who was not identified, was driving south about 7 p.m. in a 2003 Ford Expedition in the community of Riverdale, south of Fresno.

With her in the car were her four children, 1- and 3-year-old boys and 6- and 11-year-old girls.

Another woman, identified by the California Highway Patrol as Juana Martinez Bejarano, 41, was driving west on Excelsior Avenue in a 2004 Nissan about 60 mph.

At the intersection with South Marks Avenue, Bejarano apparently failed to heed a stop sign, and the two cars collided, the CHP said.

The mother’s husband — the father of the children — was behind the family in a separate car, officials said. He broke out windows of his family’s car and attempted to free those inside.

He was not successful and suffered burns, CHP Sergeant Joseph Bianchi said.

Martinez Bejarano was injured in the crash and taken to Community Regional Medical Center.

Photo: Abraham.williams via Flickr