PEDESTRIANS LEFT AS QUADRIPLEGICS AFTER A HIT AND RUN CAR ACCIDENT: RECEIVE $49 MILLION SETTLEMENT FROM DANA POINT
The Los Angeles Times reported on a serious car accident that left two women paralyzed from the neck down after a hit and run car accident in 2006. The two women, Carol Daniel and Stacy Neria, were jogging with friends on the Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point, California when they were hit. Both are now quadriplegics as a result of the accident. At the time of the incident, Neria fractured her skull and broke her pelvis, legs, nose and cheek. Daniel was thrown sixty feet into the air and received a broken neck and pelvis, in addition to nearly severing one of her legs. Both women reached a settlement on Tuesday with the city of Dana Point for $49 million, one of the largest settlements in Orange County history.
Carol Daniel, age 42, and Stacy Neria, age 35, are mothers of three children who live in San Clemente, California. The women were struck by William Todd Bradshaw on April 8, 2006, who fled the scene at the time. Bradshaw was eventually arrested several days after the accident, and it was discovered that he had three previous drunk-driving convictions. He was later convicted of the hit and run accident and sentenced to four years in prison.
The lawsuit against Dana Point alleged that road design defects contributed to the accident and that the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway where the accident occurred was unsafe because the bike lane was wider than the city’s master plan for bike lanes and improperly marked. The city’s master plan stated that a bike line should be no more than eight feet wide, but this section of highway varied from nine to twelve feet and was not marked as a bike lane. The city has since added concrete barriers to protect pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists.
