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August 29, 2008

Going 70 in a 35 MPH Zone

Fatal-Crash_eagle_rock.jpg
Unique Nails shop owner Pham Ngoc Tien, places flowers under a blood stained tree where three people were killed, when their car slammed into the it (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

The city knew of the speeding problems on Colorado Blvd. in Eagle Rock, they even had set up a special LAPD task force to deal with it last year. After Wednesday night's crash that claimed the lives of three people and an unborn child leaving two critically injured, it will be set up again, according to the LA Times.

Three cars were involved in the alleged street race. The two others did not crash into the tree and one stayed behind leading to the arrest of Rostislav Shnayder, 19, on suspicion of murder in connection with the accident. Another car fled the scene.

Witnesses said they were going around 70 miles per hour on the 35 mph street, but a friend of the pregnant mother who was behind the wheels of the crashed car said she didn't think they were involved in the race. "I don't think so, especially because her sister was going to give birth next month," she told the Times. "I don't think it was racing. If anything, it was the other two cars and they got in the middle of it."

The LAPD also says "there is no evidence that the involved persons or vehicles were engaged in an organized speed competition" (emphasis added).

UPDATE 1:50 P.M.: The LAPD just sent this out regarding one of the car passengers who initially survived the crash: "On August 29, 2008 at around 9:45 a.m., 15-year-old Andrew Cordova died at Huntington Memorial Hospital as a result of the injuries he sustained after Wednesday night’s traffic collision. The LA County District Attorney filed four counts of Vehicular Manslaughter with Gross Negligence against 19-year-old Rostislav Shnayder.

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Comments (9) [rss]

"unborn baby"???

 

I just wanted to mention that I wish all street racers would go F themselves and go to hell. They are all damn trash losers.

 

Yes, one victim was pregnant.

 

In fact the driver of the car that wrapped around the tree was eight month's pregnant. Neither the mother nor baby survived.

 

I think what gonzoworm meant was that you have to be born first before you are able to die. He's just being picky.

Ok I know they were street racing and all but the guy who stayed behind and tried to help is the one who gets pinned with murder?

 

Whatever the reason is for this incident isn't as important to public safety as the road conditions that allow and encourage this sort of behavior.

These people were going downhill on a six lane boulevard that only serves as a traffic conduit between Glendale and Pasadena and coming off the westbound Colorado exit from the 134 which is an invitation to speed.

I live here, I know the road very well. This isn't the first accident we've seen, just the bloodiest in a while.

Speeding on Colorado isn't news, nor is speeding on Eagle Rock Boulevard which serves as a conduit from downtown to Glendale.

If there's fault to be laid, of course let's blame it on irresponsible kids behind the wheel, but we shouldn't ignore the neglect of traffic engineers who have set the stage that encourages this behavior.

This never would have happened on Pasadena's stretch of Colorado nor Glendale's. As long as the city treats the streets of Eagle Rock as short cuts to to Glen/Pas, these things will continue to happen.

 

so how do they determine if the baby counts as another loss of life? if the mother was two months pregnant would they stil consider it a murder? or is it not considered life since it can be aborted up to three months in?

 

@samkin

Babies born a month early have a pretty good survival rate whereas if a woman two months pregnant gives birth, it's not even called birth. It's called a miscarriage. So I would say in this instance it counts as another person.

 

lets bring this situation...

a man shoots a woman who was two months pregnant, the fetus dies and the woman survives, and the man is tried for attempted murder AND murder? or just attempted murder since the fetus is only two months, and the mother had no intention of having an abortion, she would consider this a loss of life. how do they go about making these decisions?

 
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