Articles Posted in Pedestrian Accidents

It appears a lawsuit will be filed against Tiffany St. Ives, a woman currently facing criminal charges of striking 17-year-old Marlene Resendiz as she tried to cross Escondido Street in Escondido, then driving away and attempting to cover up the crime. (Here’s a link to some original coverage.) As you may recall, St. Ives hit Resendiz (who was about to be married), then went to great lengths to cover up the accident, including cleaning her car with bleach, repainting, and trying to sell it in Mexico. Luckily, a friend with a conscience turned her in.

Resendiz’s cousin told 10News, “It’s disgusting, cruel and horrible. She took much from our family that she needs to be held accountable for her actions.” Now the family is rightfully filing a wrongful death lawsuit against St. Ives, who operated a sanctuary for farm animals at the time of her arrest, and who was allegedly “on the job” at the time of the accident.

The family’s attorney Dan Gilleon told 10News, “It was such a heartless act on so many levels. The message that needs to be sent is if you commit a crime like this and go to great lengths to cover it up, you should spend the rest of your life paying back the family you’ve harmed so much.”

In the last year, San Diego has had a series of accidents involving elderly drivers, several of them fatal. (See an earlier blog entry). It has happened again, yesterday in the parking lot of the Bay Ho Costco on Morena Boulevard.

According to reports, an 86-year-old driver was pulling his Cadillac Coupe de Ville out of a parking spot when he apparently saw the pedestrian behind. He tried to stop his car, but accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, and the car sped backwards, striking an SUV with solid force. A 40-year-old man who was loading plants into his car was hit and run over, and the victim’s two children, who were sitting in the car, were thrown out an open door.

Incredibly, the old man was still unable to stop his car, which, after careening off the SUV, drove over a small wall, through a fence, and into a nearby building. Witnesses say the car just kept accelerating in reverse. Truly a tragedy.

In the 24-hour period after the death of 15-year-old Lucas Giaconelli, the Vista boy hit by a car while riding his skateboard, police were looking for a hit-and-run driver. Those of us who followed the story assumed it was some felonious character, who probably fled the scene because he (or she) had something to hide. When a 92-year-old man turned himself in the following day, people were stunned. Not necessarily because he was 92, but because despite a major impact – his car was damaged – he was totally unaware that he had hit a person.

This terrible tragedy raises the question: when is someone too old to drive? For friends and family of Lucas, this man should never have been allowed to have his license renewed. As one said, “If he’s 92 years old, why is he on the streets driving?”

There has been a recent spate of San Diego car accidents involving elderly driver, including fatalities. Last year an elderly driver slammed into a Chula Vista home. In October, a 75-year-old man drove of a cliff in Point Loma and died when he mistook the accelerator for the brake. And just a few months ago, an elderly man with no known medical problems drove into an El Cajon Carl’s Jr., killing a diner.