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EMT Student Killed in Drunk Driving Accident in Los Angeles County
May 23, 2008

Boris Ivshin's family had just 90 minutes to grieve their dead son. He died in a drunk driving accident two days before Passover, a period that prohibits mourning. Even in their interrupted bereavement, this family has set up a memorial fund in their son's name that will go towards the spiritual development of youth in the city.

Boris was a student at the Emergency Medical Technician program at Citrus College. On April 18, Boris was returning home, when the Ford Taurus he was driving collided with a center divider on the 210 freeway. Just then, a Jeep Grand Cherokee struck the front of the Ford Taurus. Boris died at the scene of the drunk driving accident.

The driver of the Cherokee, Jacqueline Cruz, a Fontana resident, was arrested at the scene of the accident. She was first taken to hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the accident, and a blood alcohol test was conducted. She was then charged with drunk driving, felony DUI involving injury and vehicular manslaughter.

In light of the special nature of the timing of the drunk driving accident, which just a couple of days before Passover began, Boris's body was quickly released by the coroner to be buried. His family held a memorial for him on May 18. The family requested that donations to the Boris Ivshin Memorial Fund be made instead of flowers, to commemorate the memory of Boris, a devout Jew.

Boris, his family remembers said, was looking forward to leaving the nest. He was staying with his parents, but had already begun accumulating things that he would need for his new apartment. He is survived by his family - his parents and an older brother.

While his parents try hard to remember the good times and cherish his memory, the woman who was responsible for his drunk driving accident is out on bail. Jacqueline Cruz has posted bail and will be arraigned on June 24 at the Citrus Municipal Court House.

Boris had a bright future ahead of him. He was well on his way to becoming an excellent paramedic, his instructors at the program say. He had also joined a pre med program. When young lives are cut short, you are flooded with "What if?" kind of questions. What if he had lived and saved lives? Healed bodies? Discovered a cure for cancer? An 18-year-old is so full of possibilities.

Boris's family will have many of these unanswered questions to live with. We hope that they consider the possibility of a wrongful death lawsuit that will help them with their fund.

If you have lost a loved one in a drunk driving accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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Napa Man Dead in Drunk Driving Accident
May 20, 2008

A Napa resident is expected to be arraigned today in connection with the drunk driving accident that killed a passenger in his car. 26-year-old Diango Ramirez Reyes, it was revealed after the crash, was not only drunk while he was driving, but was also driving without a valid driver license.

On Sunday at 11:30 pm, Reyes was driving his 1992 Saturn eastbound on Highway 128 east of Scott Road in rural Sonoma County. The vehicle veered off the road and crashed into a tree. Reyes suffered only minor injuries. His passenger, 53-year-old Javier Arias Hernandez, died at the scene of the drunk driving accident.

Reyes was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injures after the drunk driving accident. He had blood alcohol tests performed, and his blood alcohol limit was reported to be greater than 0.08 percent. He was also found to be driving without a valid license. Reyes doesn't seem to take traffic rules seriously enough.

He has been arrested on charges of felony DUI, vehicular manslaughter, driving with a blood alcohol limit greater than 0.08 percent and driving without a valid driver's license.

Reyes, who is also a Napa resident, has been booked into the Sonoma County jail, and will be arraigned today.

Time and again, drunk driving accidents like these makes us realize the consequences of getting behind the wheel drunk. In an intoxicated state, it takes only a second to lose sight of the road. Drivers who drink and drive have been proven to have impaired reasoning and judgment behind the wheel, poor reflexes and impaired motor coordination. And yet, we see drunk driving accidents like this all too often because people still get behind the wheel.

Drunk driving accidents remain a major traffic law and order problem in California. Laws upon laws have been passed to change this destructive pattern, but it's clear the impact they are having is very low. Laws are just not enough to force drivers to learn a lesson after an accident. Repeat offenders are responsible for a majority of drunken driving accidents. In the past 15 years in fact, there have been more drunk driving repeat offenders than ever before. This is a clear sign that laws are simply not acting as the deterrent they should be posing to drunk drivers.

Drunk drivers don't put only their own safety, but also the safety of others in their car and other cars on the road at risk. Such perverse negligence of the safety of others is criminal.

If you or a loved one have been the victim of a drunk driver, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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Updates on Two Orange County, California Drunk Driving Accident Cases
May 08, 2008

Two local DUI cases in the spotlight this week have brought home how important getting the "don't drink and drive" message out to young people in Orange County really is. In the first, the driver accused of driving his car that struck and killed a Huntington Beach teenager has had felony charges filed against him. In the other, a woman who caused the death of her best friend driving while intoxicated in a drunk driving accident has pleaded guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter.

Danny Oates' case is particularly poignant. When the 14-year-old teenager headed back to school in the fall of last year, he was unprepared for the tragedy that was to come. On his bicycle and on the way to school, Danny was struck by a 20-year-old driver. At the time, there was nothing to point that the accident had been anything more than just that - an unfortunate accident. What a difference a few months make. It later came out that Jeffery Woods was not just on drugs at the time of the drunk driving accident, but he was actually in the process of closing a drug deal.

Now, Jeffrey Woods has been charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and driving while under the influence. Any element of sympathy that the man had after he ended up causing the accident has now deservedly dissipated. You don't cause a crash that's not only strong enough to send a boy flying 100 feet, but which also leaves the front of your car smashed beyond recognition by driving sober, or by driving at the speed limit. Jeffrey has not only been utterly negligent, but even criminal in his actions. This was a man who was actually engaged in a criminal act when he caused the death of young boy. Lets hope that he ends up in a place where there is no chance to kill others while behind the wheel.

The other case that's seen developments in the last couple of days has to do with Marian Teri Kahale, the 19-year-old woman who was driving in the drunk driving accident that killed her best friend, Natasha Dannov. The accident occurred on November 18 last year, a few hours after Natasha's birthday. The two girls had celebrated Natasha's birthday at a party, where Kahale admitted she had taken the drug ecstasy. After that, she left for another party in Mission Viejo, where she consumed vodka. They then set off for home in an SUV with Kahale at the wheel. On the way, the car veered off the freeway and struck a guardrail, ejecting Natasha who was sleeping in the passenger seat without a seatbelt on. She died instantly in the drunk driving accident. Now Marion Kahale has pleaded guilty to charges of vehicular manslaughter in the drunk driving accident.

Natasha's parents meanwhile, have other questions they want answered about the drunk driving accident that killed their daughter. Where, for instance, did the girls who were underage at the time of the drunk driving accident, get their hands on ecstasy and vodka? They have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the case of their daughter's death against Kahale. This is one drunk driving accident where you can't even cheer when the bad guy gets punished - Marion has effectively ruined her life too, and faces a minimum of four years in prison.

As we said at the beginning, if there's one thing to take home from these two cases, it's how drunk driving accidents have become more common among the young. Both accused are aged 20 or below, which makes it all the more important to ram the "don't drink and drive" message home harder than before.

If you have lost a loved one in a drunk driving accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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