Rashad Owens charged with capital murder in deadly SXSW crash

The 21-year-old from Killeen, about 70 miles north of Austin, remains in police custody after a district court judge set his bail at $3 million. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.

After being treated and released for minor injuries sustained in the crash, Owens agreed to a breath test and it showed his blood-alcohol content as .114, according an arrest affidavit. The legal limit in Texas in .08.

The officer who tried to stop Owens was looking for suspected drunken drivers when he spotted a 2012 gray Honda Civic that didn’t have its headlights turned on, the arrest warrant says. The officer then initiated the traffic stop after Owens made a turn out of a wrong lane, nearly colliding with a police cruiser, the warrant said.

By that time, Owens was in the southbound lanes of the Interstate 35 frontage road near Ninth Street. Owens pulled the car he was driving into a Shell gas station but then continued on, driving the wrong way on Ninth Street, the affidavit said.

Owens told officers he saw the lights in his mirror and got scared because he had warrants out for his arrest and did not want to go to jail, the document said. Owens said he had a kidnapping warrant and told police he was in a custody battle over his daughter, the warrant said.

After driving the wrong way down Ninth Street, Owens rammed through a barricade at Red River Street set up to divide SXSW crowds and traffic, forcing another police officer manning the roadblock to dive out of the way.

While reviewing video of the crash, police say Owens accelerated into crowds of people for nearly three blocks along Red River Street and did not hit his brakes, the document said.
The warrant says video “shows the Honda accelerating into crowds, not simply crowded areas but crowds of people who are hit by the car and flung into the air.”

At the intersection of 11th and Red River, Owens’ car slammed into a cyclist, a motorcycle and a taxi. Police say he continued on, driving onto a sidewalk and into a parking lot where it struck a van. Owens then ran from the vehicle, according to the affidavit.

An Austin police officer was able to catch up to Owens and used a stun gun on Owens to stop the pursuit and arrest him, the warrant said.

Jamie West, 27, of Austin, was killed when the car Owens was driving struck the motorcycle she was riding on with her husband. Steven Craenmehr, 35, of the Netherlands was also killed. He was riding a bicycle when the car crashed into him. Craenmehr was in Austin for SXSW.

Sandy Le died days later from injuries she sustained in the crash.

Owens pleaded guilty in November 2011 to intoxicated driving after a hit-and-run incident in Alaska. Records show Owens was charged with misdemeanor DWI and leaving the scene of an accident after an incident Oct. 17, 2011, in Fairbanks. The prosecution dismissed the second charge at the time.
Owens also faced 2012 charges in Alaska of criminal mischief, and a warrant was issued for him after he failed to appear in court. In 2010, meanwhile, he was arrested in Texas by Killeen Independent School District police for criminal trespassing and pleaded guilty.

There is a long legal road ahead for the Owens. KXAN Legal Analyst Mindy Montford took a deeper look at why he faces two counts of capital murder.

Generic drug makers fight rule on health risk warnings

WASHINGTON — Companies that make generic drugs, the medications most Americans buy, are fighting to kill a proposed federal regulation that would require them for the first time to warn patients of all the known health risks of each drug they sell.

The proposed rule change by the Food and Drug Administration "would be nothing short of catastrophic," said Ralph G. Neas, president of the Generic Pharmaceutical Assn., an industry trade group. It could raise healthcare costs and "create dangerous confusion" for doctors and patients, he said.

At issue is a legal loophole created by Supreme Court rulings that drew a sharp distinction between brand-name drugs and lower-cost generics, which are the same products but usually are marketed under their chemical names.

In 2009, the high court confirmed drug makers could be sued if they failed to warn patients that a brand-name drug carried a serious potential health risk.

The decision upheld a $7-million jury verdict for Diana Levine, a Vermont violinist whose lower arm was amputated after she was injected with an anti-nausea drug made by Wyeth. The drug sometimes caused gangrene if injected into an artery.

But the Supreme Court majority flipped when confronted with a generic drug that also caused a horrible side effect.

Last year, a 5-4 ruling tossed out a $21-million verdict awarded by a lower court to Karen Bartlett, a New Hampshire woman who was disfigured, badly burned and nearly blinded after she had a rare, but previously reported, reaction to a prescription painkiller.

Had Bartlett taken the brand-name drug Clinoril for her shoulder pain, she would have won her claim. But her pharmacist gave her the generic drug sulindac. And at the time, the product label did not warn patients or their doctors of the rare reaction, known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

Nonetheless, the court ruled generic makers were shielded from lawsuits such as Bartlett's.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who cast a key vote, reasoned that because federal regulations say generics must be exact copies of the approved brand-name drugs, their makers cannot revise or update warning labels when new risks come to light. And so, he said, they cannot be sued for failing to warn consumers.

The dissenters said this made little sense. "Nothing in the court's opinion convinces me that … Congress intended these absurd results," said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

In November, the FDA proposed to fix the problem by allowing generic makers to change their warning labels when reports of new problems arise.

"In the current marketplace, approximately 80% of drugs dispensed are generic drugs," the agency said. "Accordingly, there is a need for [generic drug producers] to able to independently update product labeling to reflect certain newly acquired safety information."

The proposed rule change would extend legal liability as well. Any company that makes generic drugs would have an "independent responsibility to ensure its product labeling is accurate and up-to-date," the FDA said.

The proposal met fierce opposition from the generic drug industry. Its members said they "cannot support a proposed rule that undermines public health merely to facilitate litigation against generic drug companies by the plaintiff's bar."

Neas, who heads the industry group, noted that generics had lowered many Americans' healthcare costs. A study by the independent IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics said generics had lowered healthcare costs by $1.2 trillion over the last decade.

Neas formerly led the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, and he was credited with helping organize a national campaign that helped derail the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Robert Bork in 1987.

Neas described his group's fight against the proposed rule change as a national public education campaign.

"Our aim is to get the facts out there," he said. "This will go for some time. I don't believe this [proposed] rule benefits anyone in the healthcare system."

The FDA had planned to complete work on the proposal after hearing comments through January. It agreed to postpone the deadline until March in response to complaints from the generic drug makers. But the rule change has the backing of congressional leaders who follow health policy. They include Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), cosponsor of the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act, which is credited with spurring the widespread adoption of generic drugs.

"Patients should have the same rights to seek compensation if they are injured by a drug, regardless of whether it is a brand-name or a generic," Waxman said in an interview. "It doesn't make sense," he said, to have patients' rights depend on which version of a drug they took.

A growing number of drugs are sold only as generics. That shift argues for changing the federal warning rules, said Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a nonprofit organization.

"Many potential hazards are not discovered until years after drugs have been on the market," he said. "The proposed rule would remedy this public health problem" by requiring generic makers to disclose new safety risks as they are known, he added.

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Source: L.A. Times (Savage, 2/16)

Six Flags blames roller coaster company for fatal Texas Giant accident

Six Flags claims the Texas Giant train involved in a fatal accident in July was a “defective product that was unreasonably dangerous in design, manufacture, distribution and promotion."

Rosa Esparza, a 52-year-old grandmother, died instantly when she fell from the roller coaster. Her family is suing Six Flags and Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, the German firm that made the roller coaster trains.

Arnd von Waldow, an attorney representing Gerstlauer, said he was surprised Six Flags blamed Esparza’s death on the company in a court filing Friday. He said Six Flags was not a passive customer.

“This roller coaster was built according to the specific design specifications and was reviewed, tested and approved by Six Flags,” von Waldow said. “Six Flags was intimately involved in the design and production of this roller coaster. ... Six Flags had this designed exactly the way Six Flags wanted it to be designed.”

The Arlington amusement park’s allegations against the ride company don't signal the end of the Texas Giant.

A Six Flags spokeswoman wrote in an email that the ride is safe after additions, including seat belts, were made after the accident.

“We reopened the ride last fall following the addition of incremental and overlapping safety measures that included redesigned restraint-bar pads from the manufacturer and new seat belts,”

spokeswoman Sharon Parker wrote. “The Texas Giant is safe to ride, and we look forward to opening the park for our 2014 season next week."

The original Texas Giant, a record-setting wooden roller coaster, opened at Six Flags in 1990. It closed after two decades and was rebuilt as a steel hybrid roller coaster.

The park closed the renovated ride for about two months last summer for an internal investigation and redesign. In addition to seat belts, lap bar pads were added before the ride reopened in September.

Von Waldow blamed Esparza's death on the failure of Six Flags to follow safety procedures. He pointed to witness statements in the police investigation saying that it appeared Esparza’s lap bar was too high.

If the lap bar is touching the rider’s abdomen and legs, there isn't a danger of the person falling out, von Waldow said.

He said the ride maker has photos of Six Flags engineers in Germany hanging upside down from a roller coaster train exactly like the one involved in the Texas Giant fatality.

“If they followed these procedures, this accident never would have happened,” von Waldow said.

Esparza fell 75 feet from the roller coaster train in the opening moments of the ride.

In Friday’s court filing, Six Flags says it “followed all of the recommended operation and maintenance procedures on the ride as set forth by ... [Gerstlauer] and believe they met the standard of care with regard to the inspection, maintenance and operation of the ride.”

After the accident, test seats were installed at the entrance to the Texas Giant so riders can see whether they will fit safely in the trains. When the ride reopened, Six Flags said in a written statement that “guests with unique body shapes or sizes may not fit into the restraint system.”

An early deposition in this lawsuit questioned whether Esparza’s larger size should have raised questions about the fit of the lap bar.

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Source: Dallas News (Mosier, 2/20)

Community Comes Together After Fatal Accident

A coming together following a fatal accident that killed 16-year old Lexy Bertrand Vidor Friday.

It didn't take long before messages started pouring in from all over Southeast Texas.

"It's the community, it's the community coming together," Constance Ozio said. "It's been non-stop my phone has Facebook on it and every two seconds it's going off with more people messaging."

People offering donations for an auction to help Lexy Bertrand's family.

"I mean every child in this community is all of our children," Ozio said.

Police said Bertrand suffered serious injuries after a speeding car launched off the hump of a railroad crossing and landed on the minivan carrying her and her mother. Her mother had minor injuries. Police said Bertrand died Saturday. 

Constance Ozio didn't know Bertrand or her family before organizing donations for the family.

"You shouldn't have to go raise funds when it's your time to grieve so I decided to step up and do it for them," Ozio said.

She created a Facebook group Saturday. Nearly 2,000 people joined the group in less than 24 hours, including friends and strangers.

"We just care about community and care about the family. Even though we don't know them we want to try to do what we can to help," Paul Starkweather said. He donated an item Saturday.

Ozio spent the day picking up donations, including at Cindy Jones' home.

"I first had the privilege of meeting Lexy when she was about 6 years old. I used to do barrel clinics for barrel racing," Jones said. She didn't see Bertrand again until years later.

"She made such an impression on me at the time because I had never met a child that was so confident in herself. Her personality was just awesome," Jones said.

Bertrand's family sent KFDM News this message about her:

"Lexy was the most loving, caring person I knew. She was always trying to help in any way, shape or form. She had a beautiful heart and smile that would light up the room when she walked in. Lexy wasn't just a great daughter she was the best big sister, student, friend, and had love for everyone. She never met an enemy and always had room in her heart for another friend. She was beautiful, loving, smart, outgoing and everything anyone would strive to become. Lexy had hundreds maybe thousands of friends she kept in contact with. She was an amazing person and will never be forgot and missed terribly."

A young girl who touched the lives of her family , now bringing together the hears of an entire community.

"No matter is she's here or not she's left an impression," Ozio said.


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Source: KFDM (Bull 02/10)

Texas Hosts International Training Course

WACO - - Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is hosting the first Comprehensive Boat Accident Investigation course of 2014. This course provided by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) funded through a United States Coast Guard grant brings 60 law enforcement officers from all across the United States to one location to train on special techniques for investigating boating accidents.

"This course gives law enforcement officers the opportunity to develop their skills in boat accident investigation. The course also provides critical data to help shape boating safety regulations across the country," said Gary Haupt the Program Manager for the Accident Investigation Course for the NASBLA BOAT Program.

This class is being attended by a very diverse group from federal, state and local jurisdictions from states as far away as Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Virginia and one international attendee from Canada. The instructor cadre includes Marine Patrol Officers from Missouri, Wisconsin, Florida and Texas.

"The officers who complete this training receive a solid foundation in understanding the complexities of boating accident investigations. They'll have more confidence in conducting investigations because they'll have a better background. We are working towards a more consistent approach and this course provides a national training standard." said Assistant Commander Cody Jones, TPWD Texas Boating Law Administrator.

“In Texas, our game wardens will leverage this training within our STORM Team which conducts marine accident investigations and forensic reconstruction.” said Col. Craig Hunter, TPWD Law Enforcement Director. “The goal is to improve water safety and reduce water related fatalities. Networking and training with this group of officer’s helps us to improve what we do every day and we sincerely appreciate our partnership with the United States Coast Guard and NASBLA.”

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Source: The Gilmer Mirror (AP, 1/28)

Ford Recalls The 2013 Escape For Seventh Time

One of Ford Motor Company's most popular vehicles may also be one of its most troubled.

The company announced two more recalls Tuesday of its 2013 Ford Escape for problems that have caused at least 13 engine fires. The recalls affect 149,386 vehicles.

In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford officials said a "misinstalled fuel line could chafe and eventually leak fuel."

It's the latest in a string of problems for the '13 Escape, which has now been recalled seven times in roughly 17 months on the market. Ford said it knew of no deaths or injuries associated with the latest problem, but among 117 complaints filed on the car, several motorists told NHTSA they were afraid to drive their vehicles.

"The auto stalls randomly on occasion. I feel this is a dangerous situation, however, the dealer can't get a code so Ford will not fix," one vehicle owner wrote.

"We are concerned that we may get rear ended in a serious accident if the car stalls again, and the car/truck behind us doesn't stop in time, e.g. Harry Chapin on the LIE (Long Island Expressway)," wrote another. "We transport our two grandchildren two days a week from school and are extremely concerned."

The latest report of an engine fire arrived on Nov. 18, when a motorist wrote, "my car is still overheating after bringing it into the dealer 6 times."

NHTSA does not release the names of vehicle owners who file complaints.

The problems with fuel leaking, overheating and potential fires in the Escape is a vexing one for Ford. The company had issued three previous recalls to deal with the same problems on July 18, 2012, Sept. 4, 2012 and Dec. 3, 2012. It was not immediately clear why the first wave of recalls did not resolve the problem, and Ford did not return messages left seeking comment Tuesday.

The Escape remains a popular small SUV. Through October, Ford has sold 250,543 Escapes so far this year, trailing only the Honda CR-V in the crossover segment.

Among its crossover competitors, however, the Escape is the dubious leader among recalls by a wide margin for vehicles in the 2013 model year. The '13 CR-V has been recalled once. The Chevy Equinox, Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester have not been recalled.

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Source: Aol Autos (Bigelow, 11/27)

Alcohol involved in fatal crash

The driver in a fatal car accident that killed three Sam Houston State University students last month had a blood alcohol content level more than twice the legal limit in Texas, autopsy and toxicology reports show.

The Houstonian student newspaper first reported on Thursday results from the autopsy conducted by Montgomery County Forensic Services.

Bianca Espinal, 19, was the driver in the Dec. 14 accident at the intersection of Bowers Boulevard and Avenue I on the SHSU campus. Espinal, Eric Torres, 22, and Alfonso Mata, 20, all died at the scene.

Espinal, according to the autopsy, had a blood alcohol level of .21g/100mL, and 2.0 ng/mL of tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive found in marijuana.

University Police Sgt. Ronald Cleere told the Item on Thursday that investigators are still waiting for an advanced reconstruction report that would give them a more accurate idea of how fast the vehicle was traveling at the time of the incident.

The Texas Department of Transportation crash report shows the 2006 Chevrolet Impala traveled northbound in the 2000 block of Avenue I “at a high rate of speed” when the front left tire struck the traffic island on the north side of the intersection at Bowers Boulevard.

The vehicle crossed into the landscaped area on the east end of Academic Building 4, struck a light post and handrail before going airborne.

“It’s the ultimate consequence to pay for consuming alcohol and driving,” Cleere said. “The ultimate bad outcome of this is death and it happened to students at this university. It’s really sad.”

Torres, according to the crash report, was partially ejected through the sun roof.

The Houstonian also reported SHSU officials admitting fault to misidentifying Roberto Rodriguez Guerra as one of the three students who died in the crash. UPD Chief Kevin Morris said the department made a mistake after identifying a piece of property that belonged to Guerra found on Mata.

Guerra told police that it was his iPod, which contained a copy of his class schedule and student ID, that police mistook for the victim’s identification.

There was one lone survivor, 23-year-old Thomas Roling, who the crash report indicates extracted himself from the vehicle and waited for emergency responders before being treated at Huntsville Memorial Hospital.

Police were dispatched to the accident shortly before 5 a.m., Saturday Dec. 14, just hours before SHSU held commencement ceremonies at Johnson Coliseum, a block away from the deadly scene.

ADAI makes effort to prevent similar incidents.

SHSU Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative Coordinator Edward Gisemba said even before the crash, the ADAI looked into relaunching a designated driver incentive program. Gisemba said the program, which faded years ago, saw positive reviews initially, but had poor marketing.

ADAI is reaching out to local bars to get them to hang banners outside their businesses to promote responsible drinking.

“Obviously it’s a tragedy that has hit many of the people in Student Services very hard, myself especially because this is the very thing I’m trying to prevent,” Gisemba said. “What we’re trying to do to the best of our ability is look forward and try to determine how to avoid this from ever happening again. And we’ll do that on a number of fronts.”

Gisemba said in discussions with colleagues at SHSU, there’s talk of something similar to the Texas A&M carpooling system that runs Thursday through Saturday, taking students home from bars.
But Gisemba also mentioned the importance of empowering bystanders and peers to effectively deter friends from drinking and driving.

“Even more so than a program to promote safety and responsibility, we need to be able to show students how important it is to prevent one another from drinking and driving,” Gisemba said. “We can have a program with certain hours of operation, but ultimately people might drink and need to get home at a time that’s not within that window. We want them to make the responsible decision.”



Source: The Huntsville Item, "Alcohol involved in fatal crash," Brandon K. Scott, January 17, 2014

Texas family petitions for upgraded 911 systems after hotel death

ALBANY, GA- Last month an East Texas family suffered the loss of a young mother, Kari Hunt Dunn. She was stabbed multiple times in a hotel room where she was staying with her family, her 9 year old daughter tried calling 911 for help but couldn't get through. She tried several times but heard nothing but static, she had no idea she had to dial a prefix before making the call from the hotel phone.

"We spend a lot of time doing that and we know 911 and young children just typically know 911 and they expect to hear a voice on the other end," Albany-Dougherty Emergency Management Agency representative Jim Vault said.

That's why the Hunt family is striving to get support for an online petition that would require every single hotel and business to upgrade their 911 systems and get rid of the dial out number. So far, over 400,000 people are have signed for the change called "Kari's Law," in honor of the mother's life who was lost.

"It impacts a larger number across the nation and again with any public safety time is essence," Albany-Dougherty EMS Training Supervisor Richard Roberts shares. "It can make the big difference whether it's EMS, law or fire."

Vault explains, "If they have to dial a prefix to get out then it can become confusing and time delaying and they never get the call through."

In the Albany-Dougherty area, the enhanced 911 system is in place, it gives location and number to which the caller is calling from and the prefix is also not a requirement. However, some cities and their businesses still require the dial out before. Emergency officials feel it's an important issue that sometimes falls under the radar.

"For us it would be much better if 911 means 911," Vault said.

The Hunt family hopes the requirement will help those in need get help faster.

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Source: WALB (Rosales, 1/13)

Texas Court Holds Employer Not Liable for Employee’s Death Due to Driving While Intoxicated

A Texas state appeals court has ruled employers are not required to protect their intoxicated employees from injury or death, provided the employer played no role in the employee’s intoxication.  Clark v. EOG Resources Inc., 12-CV-00262 (Tex. App. Houston 1st Dist. Jan. 7, 2014).

Robbie Lynn Clark, an employee of a contractor for EOG Resources, Inc., was killed in a fatal car crash while driving a Company truck back to work after his lunch break.  Toxicology reports indicated Clark was intoxicated, with a blood alcohol reading of over 4 times the legal limit.   Following the accident, Clark’s family sued EOG for negligence and wrongful death, claiming EOG failed to enforce its policy prohibiting drinking while on the job and negligently failed to investigate whether Clark had a history of driving while intoxicated before allowing him to drive a Company vehicle.

Clark, who had a long history of driving while intoxicated, was hired by a contractor for EOG two weeks after he was released from prison for his fourth DWI conviction.  He submitted a driving record report with his application, but the report (which was labeled as “for insurance purposes only”) only included three years of driving history.  As Clark’s most recent DWI conviction was 6 years earlier, it did not show up on the report.

Six months after he began working with EOG, Clark was arrested again for driving while intoxicated and his license was suspended.  Clark failed to report the conviction to EOG, however, and continued to drive without a license.  He died ten months later.

The lawsuit alleged EOG had a duty to closely scrutinize Clark’s employment history before allowing him to drive a Company vehicle.  Had EOG done so, according to Clark’s family, it might have discovered  in Clark’s employment as a result of serving prison sentences for his DWI convictions.  The suit further alleged that EOG failed to adequately enforce its own policy prohibiting drinking on the job.

The trial court dismissed the case on a motion for summary judgment.  It found EOG did not have any control over Clark’s decision to drink and drive.  The appeals court affirmed.  Though the court recognized that Texas case law has found employers can be liable, under certain circumstances, to third parties injured in a car crash by an intoxicated employee, it found no such liability existed here.  Absent a showing that EOG knowingly exerted control over an intoxicated Clark or encouraged or required him to consume alcohol while at work, as an employer it did not “owe a duty to prevent [an] employee from injuring himself through his own intoxicated driving of a company vehicle during a lunch break.”

Source: National Law Review, "Texas Court Holds Employer Not Liable for Employee’s Death Due to Driving While Intoxicated," Kathryn J. Barry, January 12, 2014

Laser Hair Removal’s Risks

Her first two laser hair-removal sessions went smoothly, but the third ended with burning pain that persisted for weeks, a 26-year-old Brooklyn woman recalled. Then the marks appeared: long red stripes along the backs of her legs. Over the next few months, the stripes turned dark brown.

“It was horrifying,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified in order to preserve her privacy. “It wasn't something you would see on a normal person.”
Laser hair-removal procedures have become immensely popular in recent years. Nearly half a million such treatments were performed by dermatologic surgeons in 2011, the last year for which figures are available, according to the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. But an unknown number of procedures are performed each year by nonphysicians who may have minimal training.

The treatments are not without risk. Performed improperly, they can cause disfiguring injuries and severe burns in sensitive areas, like the bikini line and the mustache area above the lips, and, rarely, even death.
The percentage of lawsuits over laser surgery that involved a nonphysician operator rose to 78 percent in 2011 from 36 percent in 2008, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology in October. Laser hair removal was the most commonly performed procedure cited in the litigation. Another popular treatment, intense pulse light, is used to “rejuvenate” aging skin and get rid of wrinkles.

“Not a week goes by that I don’t see a complication from a laser,” said Dr. Tina Alster, founding director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery. She and other physicians worry about the proliferation of non-medical facilities like so-called medical spas that offer laser treatments and other cosmetic treatments but may not have licensed medical personnel on site.

“There’s a perception by the public that anybody can do this,” Dr. Alster said. “People need to remember, it’s not the laser doing the work, it’s the operator.”

In the case of the Brooklyn woman, the laser operator, who was not a doctor, scheduled repeat treatments of her legs four weeks apart instead of the 10 to 12 weeks for legs and the back recommended in a treatment protocol, according to her lawyer, Harry Rothenberg. She sued and reached a confidential settlement with the laser operator.

The licensing and training of laser hair-removal operators varies from state to state, resulting in a patchwork of rules and regulations, said Dr. Mathew M. Avram, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Dermatology Laser and Cosmetic Center and an author of the new study.

In laser hair removal, pulses of light are used to destroy hair follicles. The treatment is considered to be the practice of medicine in some 35 states; however, nonmedical personnel who offer the treatment are required to have on-site medical supervision in only 26 states.

New York, Virginia and Georgia do not consider laser hair removal to be a medical treatment, and 11 states simply don’t have laws regulating it.

“It’s basically the Wild West of medicine,” Dr. Avram said. “Some states are legislating and protecting patients, but a great many are not. The average person walks into a spa and sees someone with a white coat on and may assume they’re a physician.”

Even doctor-owned facilities may not have one on the premises when procedures are being done, Dr. Avram said. And states that require medical supervision may not require training and licensing of laser operators; training often is left up to the manufacturers that sell the laser equipment.
But the operator makes critical assessments of an individual’s skin type and how far apart to schedule treatments, as well as other decisions. Among those with the greatest risk of complications are people with more natural pigment in their skin or those who are tan.

A laser operator with no medical training also may treat something that looks like a sun spot but is actually a skin cancer, obscuring the disease until it is much more advanced, Dr. Avram said.
Allan Share, president of the International Medical Spa Association, agrees that there is very little oversight of medical and day spas, and he urges consumers to do research before seeking treatment. “It’s always important for a consumer to do their own due diligence,” he said.

For those considering laser hair removal, here are some factors to consider:
Ask whether the facility is owned by a medical doctor and whether he or she is immediately available during procedures.

• Ask the provider to review your medical history.
• Ask what procedures are in place in case of an emergency.
• Ask who will actually perform the procedure.
• What licensing and training does the operator have?
• How many times has the operator performed laser hair removal?
• Has he or she done it on the part of the body that you want treated?
• Ask whether laser treatment is appropriate for your skin type, hair color, complexion and body area.

Suggest that the operator test a small patch of skin before you undergo the procedure. Consumers with conditions like diabetes, a difficulty with wound healing, or a tendency toward keloid scarring may be especially vulnerable to complications and should talk to a doctor before undergoing laser treatment.
If you experience pain or discoloration after a procedure, don’t wait — call your doctor right away.

Source: KDH News, "Copperas Cove girl dies in pedestrian-vehicle accident," Mason W. Canales, January 7, 2014

'If drinking before five is wrong, I don't want to be right': Tweet 'posted by DUI driver hours before he crashed into kindergarten teacher and her son' killing them both

A kindergarten teacher and her son were killed following a car crash on Friday evening with a suspect -- who was found wearing only a towel and a BAC of 0.27%.

The accident took place at about 11.15pm in Northwest Austin.

Peggy Howard, 60, was declared dead just before midnight, the channel adds. She was a kindergarten teacher at Steiner Ranch Elementary School.

Worried about late-night driving, she had earlier dropped off son Cale Howard, 18, at the movies with a friend and had just picked him up.

Howard, a senior at Vandegrift High School, later died at Round Rock Medical Center several hours after the accident, Four Points News reports.

The deadly accident involved three vehicles.

Nicholas Michael Justin Wyzycowski, 21, drove a Chevrolet Avalanche when he rear-ended the Toyota Prius with Peggy and Cale Howard inside, the channel reports. An official said both cars moved into oncoming traffic, hitting a nearby Toyota Camry.

Witnesses at the scene told police the person driving the Avalanche fled from the scene without checking on the other victims, KXAN reports. He is described as only wearing a towel at the time of the accident.

Wyzykowski, witnesses added, was reportedly driving between 80 and 100 miles per hour. He reportedly was 'uncooperative, indifferent and cocky' with the investigating officer and refused to take a sobriety test, KXAN reports.

Wyzykowski's blood alcohol content (BAC), taken for medical purposes, was 0.27% -- more than three times the legal limit in Texas. He faces 19 felony charges, including 2 counts of intoxication manslaughter.

Three female passengers in the Toyota Camry had broken bones, statesman.com reports. One woman had a broken neck and another had a broken back.

Howard's friend in the Prius was sitting in the backseat and survived the crash, but had a broken femur, Four Points News reports.

The accident has left friends of the victims stunned.

Jim Freid and wife April, whose daughters went to school with Cale Howard, pulled up Wyzykowski's Twitter page on Saturday. Wyzykowski's account has since been removed, but Freid saved the posts.

Eight hours before the crash, Wyzykowski allegedly tweeted 'If drinking before 5 is wrong, I don't want to be right.' Another tweet, posted around 9pm, said 'Swangin.'

'Devastation, just absolute sadness,' Steiner Ranch Principal Susan Fambrough told KVUE. 'Because how do you explain to a 5-year-old that their teacher is gone?'

In a letter published online, Fambrough said the school has 'a plan in place' for students when they return to school on January 6.

Counselors will also available for all Vandegrift High School students needing support, principal Charlie Little wrote in a separate letter published on Sunday. A student support event was held on Sunday at 2pm, as well.

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Source: Daily Mail (Szathmary, 12/29)

Teen Who Killed Four People Got Off On Probation Because He's Rich

A 16-year-old boy who drunkenly killed four people got probation this week because the judge — with no apparent irony — agreed with the boy's defense that he was a victim of "affluenza," whose parents taught him wealth and privilege shield consequences. The teen had faced up to twenty years in prison.

Sixteen-year-old Ethan Couch admitted to four counts of manslaughter after he and seven other boys stole alcohol from Walmart, piled into his car and struck and killed four pedestrians while going 70 miles per hour in a 40 zone. One of his passengers remains in the hospital with severe brain damage, and nine other bystanders were also injured.

Couch's BAC was a .24 and he also had Valium in his system. According to reports, he was belligerent at the scene, at one point saying, "I'm outta here." Prosecutors were hoping to get up to 20 years.

Couch's defense was that he was a victim of his parents' wealth and privilege; in that he never had to face consequences, which an expert summarized prior to sentencing.

He said Couch got whatever he wanted. As an example, Miller said Couch's parents gave no punishment after police ticketed the then-15-year-old when he was found in a parked pickup with a passed out, undressed 14-year-old girl.

Miller also pointed out that Couch was allowed to drive at 13. He said the teen was emotionally flat and needed years of therapy. At the time of the fatal wreck, Couch had a blood alcohol content of .24, said Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson. It is illegal for a minor to drive with any amount of alcohol in his or her system.

The victims' families sort of agree with the reasoning, in that they too feel that Couch's privilege helped him avoid consequences.

Couch is now being sent to a $500,000-a-year counseling center. There are apparently five civil wrongful death suits pending against him totaling tens of millions of dollars.

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Source: Gawker (Bluestone, 12/10)

Dallas Cops Are Writing Half as Many Tickets as They Did Five Years Ago

Driving in Dallas sucks for a lot of reasons (traffic, terrible drivers, humongous potholes, et al), but overzealous traffic cops aren't one of them. This isn't just the anecdotal experience of a guy who, having been ticketed three times in five months as a teenager in Richardson, discovered similar infractions are routinely ignored by Dallas' finest. It's statistics.

As The Dallas Morning News' Scott Goldstein reports today, the number of traffic citations in Dallas dropped by 15 percent for the past year. The year before, the decline was 18 percent. The year before that, another 15 percent.

It's not a new phenomenon. A chart presented to Dallas City Council's Ad Hoc Judicial Nominations Committee shows a steady decline in tickets, from 495,007 in fiscal year 2007 to 211,843 in FY 2013.

The "no duh" explanation is that police are writing fewer tickets. The "focus of everyday Patrol Division Officers seems to have shifted away from writing citations," Assistant City Manager Joey Zapata noted in his presentation, noting that the average beat cop pulls out his ticket book almost 600 fewer times per year than he used to. In the traffic division, the number of "high writers" -- those writing more than 1,000 per year -- is half of what it once was.

The slightly more complex reason is that DPD is making a conscious shift away from traditional traffic enforcement techniques.

"The purpose of traffic enforcement is to improve traffic safety, not to raise revenue," Chief David Brown told Goldstein in an email last year. "We don't believe the citizens of Dallas want its police department writing citations to raise revenues."

And finally, the most complex reason lies with Dallas' beleaguered municipal courts system. A traffic citation can be costly to prosecute. Reforms implemented over the past year and a half have made things more efficient by disposing of more cases through guilty pleas and slashing the number of dismissals, but the city is still in the process of "rightsizing" its municipal court system.

The end result, though, is the same. You're half as likely to get a ticket in Dallas as you were five years ago.

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Source: Dallas Observer (Nicholson, 12/03)

Insurance industry worries about older drivers with smartphones

In any conversation about distracted driving – especially texting behind the wheel – it is almost always in the context of youthful drivers. After all, they're the ones addicted to their smartphones, right?

Not so fast. Increasingly it appears that a growing number of those heads glancing down at smartphone screens behind the wheel have gray hair. Older drivers are quickly catching up with young drivers when it comes to staying connected while driving.

And it's not just texting. A July 2013 survey by State Farm Insurance found a big jump in the percentage of drivers who own smartphones, particularly among drivers age thirty and older. At the same time the percentage of drivers who access the Internet on their phone while driving has nearly doubled over the past five years, going up from 13% in 2009 to 24% in 2013.

More hands-free talking

The survey results also showed the use of hands-free cell phones while driving has increased, while the percentage of people talking on a hand-held cell phone or texting while driving has become stagnant over the past three years.

This may be due, in part, to the growing number of new cars that have a Bluetooth connection. With this system, a driver may answer a call and carry on a conversation simply by pushing a button on the steering wheel, without removing the phone from a pocket or a purse.

While there has been research that suggests talking on a hands-free phone is also distracting, the same could be said for a driver conversing with passengers. It's all a matter of degree. But it's the growing presence of electronic gadgets among drivers that keeps insurance agents up at night.

Multiple distractions

"As smart phone ownership increases for all age groups, the safety community must ensure we are keeping pace with our understanding of the types of distractions drivers face," said Chris Mullen, Director of Technology Research at State Farm. "Much attention is paid toward reducing texting while driving, but we must also be concerned about addressing the growing use of multiple mobile web services while driving."

While 86% of drivers age 18-29 have smartphones, the new data shows 64% of drivers age 50 to 64 do as well, a 20% jump in two years. Even 39% of drivers 65 and older now have smartphones, the survey found.

Distracted driving is a major concern for the insurance industry, which profits when there are fewer accidents. But while most concede that texting while driving is very dangerous, it's less clear that simply talking and driving is.

Questioning conventional wisdom

Another study from Carnegie Mellon University and the London School of Economics and Political Science, also conducted this year, finds that talking on a phone while driving does not increase the risk of a crash.

For the study, Carnegie Mellon's Saurabh Bhargava and the London School of Economics and Political Science's Vikram S. Pathania examined calling and crash data from 2002 to 2005, a period when most cell phone carriers offered pricing plans with free calls on weekdays after 9 p.m. They compared data from mobile network operators and accident reports and found that there was no direct correlation between the number of phone calls made during a certain time period and the number of crashes during the same time.

"Using a cell phone while driving may be distracting, but it does not lead to higher crash risk in the setting we examined," said Bhargava, who is an assistant professor of social and decision sciences at CMU. "While our findings may strike many as counterintuitive, our results are precise enough to statistically call into question the effects typically found in the academic literature. Our study differs from most prior work in that it leverages a naturally occurring experiment in a real-world context."

For its part, State Farm is encouraging government agencies to continue their high profile campaign against distracted driving, which specifically targets electronic gadgets.

"State Farm continues to support a multi-pronged approach to encouraging more engaged driving," Mullen said. "Legislation, enforcement, education and technology all have a role to play in making our roads safer for all who share them."

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Source: Consumer Affairs (Huffman, 11/13)

NTSB faults parade plans in fatal train collision

WASHINGTON — An oncoming freight train sounded its warning, and track guard gates started to descend. But the crowd was cheering, a marching band was playing, the lights of a police escort were flashing and a truck driver towing a parade float of wounded veterans and their wives in Midland, Texas, advanced heedlessly into the crossing.

The train rammed the float at 62 mph, killing four veterans and injuring 11 other veterans and their wives.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday faulted parade organizers and city officials for their lack of safety planning, not the truck driver towing the float.

"This terrible collision between a fast-moving freight train and a slow-rolling parade float of veterans and their loved ones should never have occurred," said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman at a board meeting to conclude a yearlong investigation of the accident. "Parade and event organizers must identify and manage hazards in advance to ensure a safe outcome for participants and spectators."

Citing other fatal accidents at parades and special events in Bangor, Maine; Edmond, Okla.; and Damascus, Va., the five-member board also made a series of safety recommendations to cities and counties regarding the need for permits and safety plans.

The parade had been an annual event in Midland, a transportation and commerce hub in the West Texas oilfields, for nine years. A local charity had invited the veterans for a three-day weekend of hunting and shopping in appreciation of their service, including a parade timed to fall near Veterans Day.

Led by three police vehicles and a marching band, two floats with veterans and their spouses were en route to a banquet in their honor on Nov. 15, 2012 when the collision occurred. One float had just cleared the highway grade crossing, and a second flatbed truck was edging across the tracks when it was struck by a Union Pacific train. Several veterans and their wives managed to jump from the float before the collision.

NTSB investigators described to the board how safety precautions for the annual parade had melted away over the years.

After the first few years that the parade was held the route was changed from one that didn't cross Union Pacific's tracks to a route that did cross the tracks. For several years after the route change, parade organizers would alert the railroad to their plans and police were stationed at the highway grade crossing. But even those precautions were dropped by last year.

In the early years of the parade, organizers also obtained parade permits from the city. But last year, no permit was obtained in violation of city regulations, investigators said. Even if a permit had been issued, city regulations didn't require parade organizers to submit a safety plan, they said.

"It seems things got lax in the planning," highway safety investigator Gary Van Etten told the board. "There was no (safety) plan."

Midland officials, responding to the board's findings, said in a statement that while they've already implemented significant changes in the city's process for handling special events, they said they also realize there is more work to be done.

"The review and upcoming one-year anniversary of the accident bring back many painful emotions and memories, and our hearts continue to go out to the families who relive the accident every single day," the city's statement said. "Our hope is that those who have followed our story are still listening so that these recommendations can also help them hold safe, successful events in the future."

The railroad crossing warning system was activated the required 20 seconds before the accident, and the guardrail began to come down seven seconds after that, but the truck's driver was unaware of the danger because circumstances of the parade had created an "expectation" of safety, investigators said.

Police were stationed at intersections along the parade route and the truck driver had been allowed to proceed for 34 minutes through a series of red lights before the accident, investigators said. By the time the driver arrived at the grade crossing, he had reason to assume he could proceed through a red light there as well, they said.

"I think he was led down the primrose path, he was invited across these railroad tracks," said NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt.

The truck driver didn't recognize the warning bells that sounded as the train approached because of noise from the crowd, the marching band and motorcycles in the parade, investigators said.

The driver told investigators that he did not see the flashing lights of the grade-crossing warning system or detect the presence of the train until the float was on the tracks because he was looking at his side-view mirror to make sure float passengers weren't being jostled as he negotiated a dip in the roadway on approach to the grade crossing.

The train's engineer sounded the locomotive's horn and pulled the emergency brake seconds before the collision, but was unable to stop in time. The first truck towing a float, which was in front of the truck that was struck, was fitted with a train horn that had been sounding throughout the parade, yet another reason why the driver of the truck that was struck didn't register the danger until it was too late, investigators said.

Show of Support, the group that organized last year's parade, is holding a banquet this year, not a parade, Midland spokeswoman Sara Higgins said.

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Source: Merced Sun Star (Lowy, 11/05)

Mother angry over handling of school playground accident

PASADENA, Texas -- A first grader from Fisher Elementary is nursing a broken wrist and her mom believes the school didn't do enough after it happened.

Herminia Castillo fell off the monkey bars.

"She landed really, really hard on the floor,' said Herminia's mom Rosalinda Garcia. "Not one of the teachers had gone to go and check on her or see if she was okay."

The school let Garcia look at surveillance video from the playground and she noticed it was actually other students who helped Herminia over to the adults.

"They weren't supervising her properly to attend to her on time," Garcia said.

We asked Pasadena ISD for the video but they won't release it at this point.

However, district officials tell us that another child was injured moments before and since Herminia's injury didn't appear that serious, they went in order.

The first grader was eventually taken inside.

"The teacher took me to the nurse and then the nurse put ice on it and water on it," Castillo said.

Garcia says she got the call about what happened an hour later.

When they were reunited, the 6-year-old was taken to the emergency room. Her fractured wrist means no PE or recess for a little while.

Since Herminia's mom thinks some retraining is in order, district officials have agreed to meet with her next week to talk about it.

No one from Pasadena ISD would talk on camera about the incident but they did send us this statement:

We regret that this first grade student got hurt playing on the playground during recess. Teachers on the playground and the campus R.N. responded quickly and appropriately to this child’s injury. The supervising teacher who responded to the injured student got to her within 35 seconds.

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Source: KHOU (Craig, 10/24)

Grandmother Drowns in Horrific Theme Park Accident, Family Sues

It was September 5, 2011, when the Forbes family attended Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Arlington, Texas, when tragedy struck. Allen-resident Linda Forbes had been enjoying the park with her family that day when she was pulled from the “Lazy River,” an attraction that is described on Hurricane Harbor’s website this way:

“Sometimes, it’s fun to be lazy. Kick back and float or tube along this easy-going river that gently cruises at a current of three miles per hour.” The “Lazy River” is depicted in an image as a large, linear pool in which patrons can float lazily on various floating devices such as tubes.

When Forbes, a 64-year-old grandmother, was pulled from the water, park employees came to her aid and began chest compressions, according to a summary in The Dallas Morning News (9/7/13). With the victim lying on her back, a mask was placed over her face in an effort to force oxygen into her lungs. The mask, however, proceeded to fill with water, presumably from the victim’s lungs. Forbes was finally rolled over onto her side only after a guest at the park, who was also a paramedic, instructed employees to do so, preventing water from re-entering the victim’s lungs.

According to the horrific theme park accident report, park employees also brought a defibrillator in an effort to revive the victim. However, the defibrillator failed to activate. The lawsuit notes that a locked exit, which was closest to the victim, may have prevented the victim from being transported to the hospital in a timely manner.

Forbes was pronounced dead as the result of the amusement park accident at Arlington Memorial Hospital later that evening.

Amusement Park Deaths are rare, but also real byproducts of the amusement park experience. Safety advocates place a great deal of emphasis on regular inspections and maintenance, as well as sound design principles to maximize the safety of patrons.

And Theme Park Accidents occur at both fixed installations, such as Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, and traveling installations that are a popular feature at state fairs.

In 1979, according to The Dallas Morning News (9/28/13), a gondola from the Swiss Skyride attraction dislocated and plummeted 80 feet to the ground, killing one bystander and injuring 15 other patrons attending the Texas State Fair that year. Four years later, a rider was killed and 16 other patrons were injured - two seriously - after a spinning car on the Enterprise ride dislocated from the ride and crashed into the midway.

Both Amusement Park Deaths resulted in multimillion-dollar lawsuits. However, the tragedies also fostered more stringent management and inspections of thrill rides at state fairs. While the Enterprise ride was inspected by a representative of the insurance company and deemed safe before it was opened to riders during the Texas State Fair of 1983, a more thorough inspection following the Horrific Theme Park Accident revealed fractures in the Enterprise’s steel frame that might have been detected had a more thorough inspection taken place prior to the ride opening to the public.

Jim Sinclair, deputy general manager of the Minnesota State Fair, told The Dallas Morning News that in Minnesota inspectors are on-site 24 hours a day for the entire run of the State Fair. Inspectors perform constant spot checks and review daily inspection reports. “The level of exposure that comes with a state fair operation like in Dallas or here [St. Paul, Minnesota] or Milwaukee is such that you want that layer of inspection,” he said in comments published in The Dallas Morning News.

“We have the risk.”

As for the amusement park death of Forbes, The Dallas Morning News says that her death was not reported to the Texas Department of Insurance because the Lazy River is not licensed as a ride per se - although the park’s water slides are. For an unlicensed ride, there is no requirement to report a death or injury, according to the report.

On the Hurricane Harbor website, the Lazy River is listed as a family ride. The amusement park lawsuit continues.

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Source: Lawyers and Settlements (Gibb, 10/19)