Accidental Death

The estimated accidental death total in the United States last year fell to 88,000, its lowest level since 1924, the National Safety Council said. The 1991 total was down from 93,000 the year before. Most of the decline came in the motor vehicle category, which still accounts for roughly half of all accidental deaths nationwide. The next-biggest improvement came in work-related deaths, which totaled 9,900 last year--the lowest since the council began making such estimates nearly 60 years ago.

The death earlier this year of Scott Sterling, 32-year-old son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, was caused by a pulmonary embolism and "intravenous narcotic medication intake," the Los Angeles County coroner said Monday. The death was ruled accidental. Sterling was found dead in his apartment on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu late on New Year's Day. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials quickly determined that his death did not involve foul play but apparently stemmed from a drug overdose.

A suspected robber was charged with murder Wednesday in the death of a North Hollywood woman whose fiance accidentally shot her to death while trying to thwart a robbery, authorities said. Bryant Jerome Clark, 18, of North Hollywood was charged with the murder of Hilda Blackburn, 47, who was killed Sunday night. He also faces one charge each of robbery and battery causing serious bodily injury.

"Survive and Advance," which premieres Sunday on ESPN as part of its excellent "30 for 30" series of sports documentaries, is a sweet and moving depiction of the sweet and moving story of the 1983 North Carolina State men's basketball team, the Wolfpack, and its colorful coach, Jim Valvano. You will need a handkerchief or two to get through it, unless you are some sort of soulless, inhuman monster. Directed by Jonathan Hock ("Unguarded"), it is a tale of great deeds, inspiring speeches, comical sound bites and big, long hugs in what was a legendary time for college basketball - the days when Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were still in school and players tended to stick around for three or even four years of play rather than taking off early for the pros: "The games were better," says University of North Carolina Coach Roy Williams.

The recent death of In-N-Out Burger's chairman and chief executive, H. Guy Snyder, was caused by an accidental overdose of a prescription painkiller, according to an autopsy report from the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Snyder, who headed the Irvine-based burger chain for six years, died last month at the age of 48. He was the second brother to run In-N-Out Burger to die unexpectedly.

The recent death of In-N-Out Burger's chairman and chief executive, H. Guy Snyder, was caused by an accidental overdose of a prescription painkiller, according to an autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Snyder, who headed the Irvine-based burger chain for six years, died last month at the age of 48. He was the second brother to run In-N-Out Burger to die unexpectedly.

Families of the 12 people who died in a spiritualist prayer meeting gone awry held wakes for their dead Saturday, disbelieving and angry at the official finding that the victims died of accidental asphyxiation brought on by a malfunctioning butane lantern.

We've all heard about — and many of us have experienced — unexpected charges showing up on phone bills. But what about fees siphoned from your bank account? What about those fees being taken by an affiliate of your bank? And what can you do when your bank won't help because it claims you gave "phone authorization" for something like accidental death insurance, even though you never signed any paperwork? That's the situation Sumati Rao, 62, of Rancho Palos Verdes found herself in after discovering she'd been charged $20 a month for about two years for accidental death coverage provided by a company called Level AD Insurance.

"Survive and Advance," which premieres Sunday on ESPN as part of its excellent "30 for 30" series of sports documentaries, is a sweet and moving depiction of the sweet and moving story of the 1983 North Carolina State men's basketball team, the Wolfpack, and its colorful coach, Jim Valvano. You will need a handkerchief or two to get through it, unless you are some sort of soulless, inhuman monster. Directed by Jonathan Hock ("Unguarded"), it is a tale of great deeds, inspiring speeches, comical sound bites and big, long hugs in what was a legendary time for college basketball - the days when Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were still in school and players tended to stick around for three or even four years of play rather than taking off early for the pros: "The games were better," says University of North Carolina Coach Roy Williams.

President Obama has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent another Sandy Hook. "Because what choice do we have?" he asked. "We can't accept events like this as routine. " Unfortunately, such events are far more random than they are routine. They are what the statistician Nassim Taleb calls "Black Swan events": improbable, rare and unpredictable. We will never be able to prevent them. But that does not mean we can do nothing in response. We should start by understanding the distinction between murder and mass murder.

President Obama has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent another Sandy Hook. "Because what choice do we have?" he asked. "We can't accept events like this as routine. " Unfortunately, such events are far more random than they are routine. They are what the statistician Nassim Taleb calls "Black Swan events": improbable, rare and unpredictable. We will never be able to prevent them. But that does not mean we can do nothing in response. We should start by understanding the distinction between murder and mass murder.

Comedian Tig Notaro's downtown Los Angeles loft is oddly intact considering she is moving across the country in the morning. She's about to start a new job with Comedy Central, she has a new book deal with Ecco, her debut comedy album, "Good One," is now No. 2 in its category on iTunes, and reporters from Vanity Fair and the New Yorker are calling later about a new comedy recording of hers on Louis C.K.'s website. Still, as she relaxes on the taupe couch that divides her industrial-modern kitchen and airy, sun-lit living room, Notaro seems utterly unflustered.

Tennis umpire Lois Goodman, charged with bludgeoning and stabbing to death her 80-year-old husband in April with a coffee mug, has passed a lie-detector test administered by a former FBI examiner in which she denied killing her husband, her attorneys said Tuesday. The attorneys said they would give the results to prosecutors in hopes the charges against the 70-year-old Woodland Hills resident would be dropped. She has pleaded not guilty. The examination, in which Goodman denied killing her husband, Alan, or having any involvement in his death, was conducted by former FBI polygraph examiner Jack Trimarco during the first week of October, Robert Sheahen, one of her attorneys, said.

Two decidedly different portraits emerged Wednesday of the U.S. Open tennis umpire accused of killing her 80-year-old husband and then trying to pass it off as an accident. Prosecutors said Lois Goodman, 70, bludgeoned her husband, then callously left him to die as she went to "tennis and to get her nails done. " Deputy Dist. Atty. Sharon Ransom accused Lois Goodman of meticulously planning the killing in advance, but did not lay out any evidence to support that claim. She said the umpire used a broken coffee mug like an "improvised knife," stabbing her husband 10 times.

Summoned to a couple's Woodland Hills condominium last spring, police officers heard a sad but familiar tale. The wife, an active 70-year-old, said she had come home from a tennis match to find her husband of five decades dead in his bed. He was 80, diabetic and suffered from high blood pressure, she told them. Officers consoled the woman and arranged for the body to be sent to a funeral home. But three days later, on the eve of his cremation, a perfunctory check at the mortuary triggered a series of stunning revelations: The man had been beaten to death, the murder weapon was a coffee cup from the kitchen, and the prime suspect was his widow.

Criminal proceedings against UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran took a bizarre turn Thursday when the defense alleged in court papers that the state's chief investigator in the accidental death of a lab worker committed murder as a teenager in 1985. The investigator, Brian Baudendistel, denied it. "It's not true," he told The Times earlier this week. "Look, it's not me. " Baudendistel, a senior special investigator for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, was instrumental in building the criminal case against Harran and UCLA with a 95-page report that blamed both in the death of 23-year-old Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji.

Criminal proceedings against UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran took a bizarre turn Thursday when the defense alleged in court papers that the state's chief investigator in the accidental death of a lab worker committed murder as a teenager in 1985. The investigator, Brian Baudendistel, denied it. "It's not true," he told The Times earlier this week. "Look, it's not me. " Baudendistel, a senior special investigator for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, was instrumental in building the criminal case against Harran and UCLA with a 95-page report that blamed both in the death of 23-year-old Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji.

Death rates from unintentional injuries of children from birth to age 19 fell by nearly 30% in the United States from 2000 through 2009, largely because of a 41% drop in deaths in car crashes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. That amounts to more than 11,000 children saved during the decade, Dr. Ileana Arias, principal deputy director of the CDC, said in a news conference. "The rate is among the worst of all high-income countries," she said, and the real shame is that most of the deaths "are predictable and preventable.

Nearly two months after they began a controversial new investigation into Natalie Wood's death while sailing off Santa Catalina Island in 1981, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detectives have found no evidence to suggest that the cause was anything but accidental. Although the case has not been closed, a top Sheriff's Department official said it's highly unlikely any new ground will be broken on how the actress died. "At this point, it is an accidental death," said William McSweeney, the sheriff's chief of detectives.