California Injury Blog
Officials suspect it could’ve been caused by road rage or street racing
A 29-year-old woman was killed after her 1999 Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle veered off the 15 Freeway in Fontana, causing her car to flip several times. According to an article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the crash was reportedly caused by road rage or street racing.
The newspaper reported that Lauda Young, 28, and Maxine Ferry, 29, were both driving in separate vehicles south on the 15 Freeway. According to eyewitness accounts, both women were traveling at a high rate of speed – 80 to 85 miles an hour. At one point, Young cut off Ferry with her 2004 Toyota Corolla in the slow lane leaving no more than three to five feet between the two vehicles, the article stated.
Ferry was forced into the dirt on the right shoulder because Young was tapping on her brakes while driving in front of Ferry, California Highway Patrol officials said. It was then that the Explorer veered back on to the road and began to fishtail. But at this point the Explorer was reportedly way out of control. Back on the shoulder, the SUV rolled over three or four times before it came to a stop.
Young sped away at first but stopped about 2 miles away after a witness pursued her, the Bulletin article said. She is being held on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.
This will be an interesting case as more details emerge and we find out what actually caused the two women, especially Young, to drive in this reckless manner. Although officials believe that road rage or racing may have caused this tragedy, Ferry’s family should definitely look into the Ford Explorer she was driving.
They would be well-served to contact a reputed personal injury law firm and preserve the Explorer as evidence until they’ve had an auto defect law firm have their experts inspect it to see if the vehicle’s defects contributed to the driver’s death.
The Ford Explorer’s defective design has been a contributory factor in many of the Explorer deaths and major injury auto accidents we have investigated. In this case, the other driver seems to have been at fault, but the Ford Explorer has been proven time and time again to be an unstable vehicle, which does nothing to protect its occupants.
In fact, Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys is currently in the middle of a jury trial in a case where Gloria Levesque, a school teacher was paralyzed when the Ford Expedition she was driving rolled over. The roof crushed inward, causing her permanent head and spinal injuries. Our condolences to Ferry’s family and we hope they get the justice and compensation they deserve in this case.