Kylie Jenner Causes 3-Car Pileup

New driver Kylie Jenner, reality television star and model, caused a 3-car pileup in Calabasas, California on Wednesday.

Kylie Jenner had just gotten her license 18 days ago. She was driving her brand new $125,000 Mercedes SUV.  At around 5 PM, Kylie collided into a Toyota in Calabasas. The Toyota slammed into the back of a Subaru SUV. 

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. The Toyota did sustain major damage to the back end of the car. Kylie Jenner’s front grille got caught in the back bumper of the Toyota. The Subaru also sustained bumper damage. 

A witness said that Kylie immediately go out of the car and communicated with the other drivers. She apologized and made sure that everyone was uninjured. Jenner exchanged information with the other drivers and left. Police officers later arrived at the scene, but Kylie Jenner had already left the scene. No charges or arrests have been made. Kylie Jenner’s car also sustained some minor damages.

Kylie Jenner’s sister Kendall Jenner has had troubles on the road as well. Kendall Jenner, a reality star and model, was spotted driving recklessly on the freeway. Witnesses accused her of texting while driving. According to witnesses, Kendall Jenner was focusing on her cell phone instead of the road. Witnesses stated that Jenner was swerving across the road. 

Texting while driving has been illegal since 2009. Drivers under the age of 18 are not even allowed to use a cell phone with a hands free device. New and teen drivers need to be especially careful on the road. Driving is a dangerous activity. It requires full attention. Even the most experienced drivers are at risk of car accidents. All drivers should avoid engaging in distracted driving. Distracted driving is incredibly dangerous. Distracted drivers have a higher risk of accidents than focus drivers.

If you or someone you love is in a car accident, you should contact an Orange County car accident lawyer. Survivors of car accidents may sustain serious injuries. A car accident lawyer can help you seek maximum damages for your losses today.

New York Taxicab Severs Tourist’s Foot

Sian Green, a 23-year-old, was visiting Rockefeller Center when during her full first day of her dream vacation an unexpected damper in plans abruptly changed her life late Tuesday morning. She was enjoying a hot dog while sitting on a fountain while in an effort to allegedly avoid a collision with a cyclist, a New York taxicab lost control of his vehicle, jumped the curb and crashed into the British tourist and managed to sever one of her feet and seriously injure the other.

Green bought hot dogs at Sixth Ave. and 50th St. about 11:20 a.m. with her only friend in New York, Keshia Warren. They sat on the ledge of a fountain in a crowded plaza on the avenue to enjoy their food while an episode unfolded between a cyclist and a taxicab driver.

Faysal Kabir Mohammad Himon, 24, of Queens allegedly became frustrated when a bicyclist began to pound on his vehicle. Himon’s brother said that instead of pressing the brakes, Himmon became confused and stepped on the accelerator.

“I’m not sure what happened next,” Himon told reporters. “I was up on the curb.”

Kenneth Olivo, the bike messenger told a different story. He blamed the situation on the cab driver who struck him with the taxi then lost control.

“I told him to stop because I’m trying to go forward and people are crossing,” said Olivo, 40-years-old. “He loses his patience. He gets angry. He accelerates. Hits me.”

Olivo was reportedly heading north on Sixth Ave., pedaling to the right of the cab when it cut him off. “I’m on the roof of a car like in a Steven Seagal movie, okay. And I’m on the sidewalk. I’m like this looking up at the sky.”

David Justino, 44, was able to get one of the women away from the vehicle but he said it all happened too fast and is upset he couldn’t get both of them away from danger.

Many are saying that it was Justino’s quick thinking that was probably responsible for saving the life of Green. Just as fast as he reacted earlier, he pulled off his utility belt and used it as a tourniquet on Green’s foot as soon as he noticed her foot had been severed.

“I was watching the girl,” Justino said. “I just couldn’t let go. Because as so as I let go a little bit, she started squirting blood back out. So I got really tight on it and said I’m not letting go until a doctor shows up.”

That was when television’s Dr. Oz showed up to the scene and encouraged Justino to keep doing what he was doing until emergency personnel arrived on the scene. Green was awake and screaming in pain while all of this was happening. Some wished she had passed out instead. A crowd gathered around her and some snapped a pictured of the severed foot.

She was taken to Bellevue Hospital but doctors were unable to reattach her foot and had to amputate part of her leg.

“I feel really bad about the lady,” said Himon, a married Bangladeshi immigrant who has been driving a cab since 2010. “I didn’t realize she was underneath my car. I’ll never forget her and I’ll never forgive myself.”

He was issued a summons for “unauthorized use,” an administrative violation for not submitting a form notifying the Taxi and Limousine Commission that he would be driving that particular cab.

“Nothing like this has happened to me before,” Himon said.

Justino is looking forward to meeting Green after her family visits her at the hospital. Her family are already on a flight to New York. 

If you were injured in an automobile wreck, contact a car accident lawyer. You could get compensation to pay for your hospital bills and future medical expenses, as well as any other damages.  

Understanding Florida Sink Holes

The latest sink hole in Florida nearly swallowed a vacation hotel building near Disneyworld whole earlier this week. Approximately 130 people were left without their belongings or a place to spend the night. Guests staying in adjacent buildings were also evacuated to reduce the risk of any person being injured. This event has brought attention to Florida’s sink holes, what they are and why do they happen.  

Sinkholes are caused naturally but they can be triggered by outside events and people can get seriously injured or die. In Florida they are occurring at their regular rate but it’s the high-profile nature of the recent one that has drawn attention to the severity of their occurrence.

In the U.S., Florida is known to have the most sink holes out of any other state and is beginning to become synonymous with the landscape of the state of Florida, similar to its beautiful beaches, alligators, and palm trees. From 2006 to 2010, the state Office of Insurance Regulation said sinkhole claims in Florida cost insurers approximately $1.4 billion.

There are three counties in the Tampa region that are known as “sinkhole alley.” And two-thirds of sinkhole damage claims reported to the state Office of Insurance Regulation from 2006 to 2010 came from Hernando, Hillsborough and Pasco counties. But in the state’s two most populous counties — Broward and Miami-Dade – sink holes are less likely to occur.

Florida’s peninsula is made up of porous carbonate rocks like limestone that helps store and move groundwater. Dirt, sand and clay sit on top of the carbonate rock and over time, these rocks tend to dissolve from an acid created by oxygen in the water and create a void underneath the limestone roof. When the dirt, clay or sand gets too heavy for the limestone roof, it can collapse and form a sinkhole.

According to the state Office of Insurance Regulation, reported claims from sinkholes have risen in recent years. In 2006 there were approximately 2,300 claims filed in Florida but that figure nearly tripled by 2010 to almost 6,700 claims. There is no geological explanation for the rise of them occurring and state insurance officials believe many claims are questionable. There must be structural damage to a home for a policyholder to claim a loss, but insurance officials say claims are often paid without that proof.

If you are in a home that begins to rattle, then the windows start to explode and the ceiling begins to fall, get out of there fast to prevent personal injury. Those are some signals that people who were in the hotel building that collapsed experienced.  Make sure that all others in the building are also alarmed and evacuated.

And if you were injured during a sinkhole accident and are seeking compensation because the owners of the building were negligent, contact an injury lawyer today.

Sink Hole near Disney World Resort takes Out Building, No Injuries

Hotel guest vacationing near Disney World received a rude awakening when a sink hole began to tear apart the building in which they slept Sunday night. All guests were able to safely evacuate but some left behind car keys, passports, medications, and valuables. There were no injuries resulting from the collapse of the building.

Windows blew out from their frames, the building cracked, and the ceiling began to give out. In a frenzy guests evacuated as the ground beneath their Lake County rooms opened. Guests had only 10 to 15 minutes to escape the collapsing buildings.

Building 104 from Summer Bay Resort on U.S. Highway 192 in the Four Corners area, located about 7 miles from Walt Disney World resort sank into a hole about 60 feet in diameter and 15 feet deep.

"My heart sunk. I was sick to my stomach," resort president Paul Caldwell told reporters.

At around 10:30 p.m. he received a call from his staff that the luxury condominiums that were only 15-year-old and filled with guests were sinking into the ground.

"No doubt there would've been injuries if they hadn't gotten the building evacuated," he said during a live news conference.  After the windows began to shatter, a guest ran into the street to flag down resort personnel.

Richard Shanley was on duty as the security guard last when the building sank. He sprang into action and helped nearly three dozen guests evacuate the sinking building.

"It was scary. You don't know what to do. But you do what you can do to get people out," he said.

Shanley said the event played like a movie. He ran to one of the buildings to try to wake up guests as the ceiling collapsed and glass shattered. People were petrified and confused, he said.

"I had to run literally from end to end of the building to get people out. While you are running by, pieces of the building are falling down behind you," he said. "So you just do what you can and get out.”

He said guests were afraid that the building might cave in with people inside.

"Some of them were like 'are you serious,' Shanley said. “Some of them were screaming and hollering. I was trying to calm them down as best as I could."

Children were terrified and protested to their parents against being trapped in a collapsing building during a vacation when they were to be out having fun.

Guests like Maggie Moreno in the adjacent edifice, Building 105, were not allowed back into their rooms although their building was still standing. Moreno, who is from San Antonio, was on vacation with her family and had been staying on the third floor of Building 105 for two weeks and were upset they could not go back into their room to retrieve their personal belongings.

“We heard a ruckus, and my husband said, 'What's going on?'" said Maggie Moreno, 48. "You could hear the buckling of the building. You could hear it snapping like popcorn, pop, pop, pop."

They met a young couple with an infant who were staying in Building 104 and had to climb out of a window when the building started to sink and break apart.

Resort management gathered guests into the onsite clubhouse until they were able to provide additional accommodations for those who were affected.

If you were injured while staying at a resort, make sure to contact an Orange County personal injury lawyer. They’ll be able to help you sort out who will pay for your injuries and your losses.

Single-Vehicle Crash Victim Trapped 33 Hours with Broken Neck, Survives

After being involved in a single-vehicle crash and falling into an embankment, Shaun Lee, from Moncks Corner, S.C., had to resort to honking and prayer after getting pinned down by the steering wheel.

Lee, a South Carolina driver, suffered a broken neck during the collision and was trapped upside down for 33 hours before any help arrived. 

Lee managed to cheat death inside the rental car after the accident that reportedly took place in western Montana at 12:15 a.m. last Thursday. 

The 30-year-old told reporters he could do nothing but honk his horn and pray for help after becoming pinned down by the steering wheel.

Drifting in and out of sleep while trapped, he imagined he was "dead, dying or pinned ... or all three," he said from his Missoula hospital bed on Monday.

Forest Service worker Benji Hegg spotted the wrecked vehicle at around 9:15 a.m. the following morning, approximately 33 hours after the single-vehicle crash and called for help.

Rescuers were radioed in to the site. 

To extricate the trapped man, they had to cut through the vehicle. Once extricated, he was carried up the embankment on a backboard and then transported to the hospital. 

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer cited Lee for reckless driving.

Lee told reporters that he had traveled to North Dakota in search of work in the oil fields but decided to continue to Montana to visit an aunt.

He was looking for a motel but accidentally took a wrong turn and, before long, ended up sliding down a wet dirt road.

"Emergency brake on, got the foot brake on," Lee remembered. "It's going faster and faster. Next thing I know she flipped upside-down and boom."

He is expected to recuperate. Officials did not say if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Automotive accidents can happen just about everywhere and at unsuspecting times. It is important to be prepared. If you were in an accident that happened through no fault of your own and were injured, make sure to contact a car accident lawyer in your area, especially if your insurance group expects you to fight on your own. 

Don’t be caught fighting an insurance company on your own. Contact a reputable car accident lawyer in Orange County to fight for you!

A lawyer that cares about you and your case will make sure that your automotive damages are fixed and that you are set up with a doctor who will help tend to your injuries.