Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Carl L. Brown, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
In California and other States, there are some remarkable teachers and school employees who are working hard to protect the safety and welfare of children. If a person decides to work in a school system, the safety of a children should be a paramount concern for teachers, administrators, support staff, volunteers, parents, and custodians. In Las Cruces, California, Jerry Rios, a custodian employed at César E. Chávez Elementary School is credited with saving a kindergarten child (Dominic Lujan) from serious personal injuries when the child’s jacket was caught in the door of a vehicle in the car pool line. Rios, who recognized the danger of the situation, jumped in front of the vehicle to make sure that it stopped. Mr. Rios was later honored for his heroism and quick thinking by the school and administrators. You can read more about this story at Custodian Saves Kindergarten Student from Serious Personal Injuries – Las Cruces, California.
San Luis Obispo County, California high school and doctors are using a program to help doctors and coaches better manage student athletes with concussions. The program provides brain testing for student athletes BEFORE there is an injury or concussion. With this baseline testing in place, doctors are better able to determine the objective effects of a concussion after the injury takes place. A similar program is in effect for the National Football League.
In California, traffic signals and devices should be obeyed by drivers. The simple act of running a red light can be quite deadly. In Novato, California, Steven Culbertson, age 19 from Lakeville, California, first hit a car stopped for a light and then drove through the red light and into the intersection. Then, Culbertson in a BMW Mini Cooper crashed into a mini-van occupied by the Maloney family. The father (Johnathan Maloney – age 45), the mother (Susan Maloney – age 42) and two children (Grace and Aiden) died as a result of the impact according to the California Highway Patrol.
It took less than one hour for a Tulare County jury to return a guilty verdict in this shocking California case. Nancy Ortiz, 24, of Orosi, California was found guilty on second degree murder and felony child abuse charges after she abandoned three of her children.
In California and other States, day care centers should be places of safety and education for children. Day care centers should not be places for illegal drugs or bomb making materials. The California Inland Island Child Care Regional Office recently ordered the closure of a day care center with such criminal activities. The Kuzelka family operated a day care center but did not limit their business or entrepreneur activities to child care. Law enforcement officials found bomb making materials and marijuana at the home / day care center as part of an investigation following a report that Benjamin Kuzelka blew off most of his hand Wednesday night with a liquid explosive that he was making in his garage.
California regulators file a complaint against the YMCA Children’s Station after two toddlers wandered off during an outing and were found on nearby railroad tracks. The day care center took these children and other children enrolled in the day care program to a local park. The two children wandered away but were found by others. Fortunately, the children did not suffer any serious personal injuries. The children were unsupervised and could have been abducted. The fact that the child were not seriously harmed or abducted does not and should distract from the danger that they were put in by the failed supervision. Further investigation by the Department of Social Services revealed that the day care center did not have the proper staff in place and were also deficient in its polices and procedures for signing in and out of the children.