Accidental Deaths Los Angeles County

A judge reduced charges against radio talk show host Ira Fistell on Thursday for his involvement in a February car accident that left a teen-age girl dead. After a three-hour preliminary hearing that stretched over two court days, Municipal Judge Elva Soper ruled that Fistell, 53, and his wife, Tonda, 54, should be charged with misdemeanors rather than felonies, saying their sentences would probably be the same either way if they are convicted.

A driver who allegedly sideswiped three parked cars in Reseda on Wednesday while her passenger was hanging her head out the window--resulting in the death of the passenger--has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, authorities said Friday. Karen Louise Shaw, 27, also was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

The drum roll of traffic tragedy in the San Fernando Valley area continued Friday with an accident that killed three members of a Northern California family, including one each of two sets of twins on their way to a sister's wedding. The crash on the Golden State Freeway near Castaic also killed the twins' father and critically injured their mother and the other two twins. The crash capped a week of multi-death traffic accidents in the Valley area.

Twice the Canyon Country youth was warned that he was driving too dangerously, too fast. But two speeding tickets and a stint in traffic school did not stop Marcus Christian Lellan from once again flooring the accelerator. This time, at more than 100 mph, he lost control, slamming his auto into an oncoming car and killing four people, including three of his high school classmates.

An 8-month-old baby died Sunday after swallowing a balloon, police said. Responding to a call from the child's parents, police and Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics arrived Sunday night at the family home on the 1000 block of Cambrin Road. The child, identified by Los Angeles County coroner's officials as Jonathan Gutierrez, was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where he died at 10:05 p.m. Pomona Police Sgt.

To the collective gasps of nearly 40,000 spectators, a veteran skydiver crashed to his death Sunday during opening ceremonies for the National Hot Rod Assn. finals at the Pomona Fairplex. Lawrence Yohn, 59, a professional skydiver from Perris, died after a gust of wind seemed to catch him, slam him into a track guardrail and then flip him over onto the right lane of the strip, about 40 yards from the starting line. The accident happened shortly before 11 a.m.

Hawthorne police said Monday that rap singer DJ Quik, whose real name is David M. Blake, was the driver of a car that killed a 5-year-old boy Saturday afternoon. Sgt. Steven Baker said the child, a resident of Inglewood, died of head injuries after he was struck by the rappers' Lexus about 3:40 p.m. Saturday. Police held Blake, 24, for about three hours for questioning, then released him on his own recognizance.

A 16-year-old La Palma girl died at a Long Beach hospital early Sunday, hours after being struck by a hit-and-run driver as she climbed into the back of a vehicle carrying friends, police said. Michelle Bangloy was taken by paramedics to St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach with what appeared to be minor injuries, but died of internal injuries about four hours after the 11 p.m. crash, Long Beach Police Sgt. Mike Scanlan said.

Air Force officials are considering whether to take action against a pilot blamed for an Oct. 22 collision in which the wing of his plane punched the two-man crew of another jet out of their cockpit seats thousands of feet above the desert, without parachutes, killing them. An investigative report released last week on the Internet graphically describes the deaths of a U.S. Air Force flight instructor, Lt. Col. William R. Nusz of Rosamond, and a visiting British Royal Air Force flier, Flight Lt.

Lori Keevil-Mathews knew a rare disease would someday take her life and vowed to enjoy the time she had left. So on a whim Saturday, she and her husband jumped into their car and rushed to see Christo's huge yellow umbrellas at Tejon Pass. A few hours later, the 34-year-old Camarillo insurance agent was dead--killed when a 488-pound umbrella tore loose from its foundation in a driving wind and crushed her against a boulder.

An 81-year-old man died in a fire in his Lancaster condominium Friday night, authorities said. The man was found in the bedroom of a unit in the 2900 block of West Avenue J-4, said Leilana Aranda, an investigator with the county coroner's office. Authorities will have to review dental records to confirm the identity of the man, who lived alone, she said. Firefighters responded to the blaze about 7:30 p.m. and took about 20 minutes to put it out, Aranda said.

Four people were killed and two others were injured Thursday night when an Acura Integra speeding down Soledad Canyon Road hurtled through the center divider and smashed head-on into a blue Mustang, officials said. Witnesses said the white Acura, with five teenage occupants, was going an estimated 90 to 100 mph down a bicycle lane on Soledad Canyon Road near Sand Canyon Road, trying to pass another car on the right, said Sgt.

The boy killed in a fistfight with another student at a middle school last month picked the fight with the other boy during class and threw the first punch once they got outside the classroom, according to accounts gathered by sheriff's detectives. Students who saw the scuffle Nov. 19 at Juniper Intermediate School told authorities Stephan Corson slugged the other student, who has not been identified, as soon as he stepped out of the classroom, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt.

Najee Ali, the head of Project Islamic Hope, took a Greyhound bus from Crenshaw to Palmdale on Monday to hold a small but fiery news conference on the steps of the Palmdale School District headquarters. Ali is pressuring school officials to expel a white student involved in a middle school fistfight Nov. 19 that led to a black student's death.

Najee Ali, the head of Project Islamic Hope, took a Greyhound bus from South-Central Los Angeles to this High Desert community Monday to hold a small but fiery news conference on the steps of the Palmdale School District headquarters. Ali, a self-proclaimed activist, is trying to pressure school officials to expel a white student involved in a middle school fistfight Nov. 19 that led to a black student's death.

Shoulder to shoulder the boys in the Chatsworth Chiefs jerseys sat, wiping their eyes. The church seemed a strange place to be for members of the pee-wee football team. It was only a few weekends ago that their buddy Stephan Corson thundered down the field, a football squeezed between his hands. Now he lay in front of them in a cream-colored suit, white roses on his chest, impossibly silent. "He wanted to go pro," said teammate Desean Jackson, 13.

Four people were killed and two others were injured Thursday night when an Acura Integra speeding down Soledad Canyon Road hurtled through the center divider and smashed head-on into a blue Mustang, officials said. Witnesses said the white Acura, with five teenage occupants, was going an estimated 90 to 100 mph down a bicycle lane on Soledad Canyon Road near Sand Canyon Road, trying to pass another car on the right, said Sgt.

As California's housing stock ages, building inspectors, industry officials and realtors say property owners must become more aware that maintenance problems from rusting steel beneath decks to aging electrical wiring can pose increased hazards. That point was driven home early last Sunday when a rusted steel beam beneath the balcony of a Malibu townhouse gave way, dumping party-goers onto the rocks and into the surf. Two people died and 29 others were injured.

As police continue to investigate the fistfight at a Palmdale intermediate school that left a 13-year-old student dead, community members called Monday for the immediate expulsion of the surviving 14-year-old boy. Some residents also criticized school officials for dismissing race as a possible motive in the fight at Juniper Intermediate School. Stephan Corson, who is black, died Friday after the fight with another eighth-grade student, who is white.

Two teenage boys were killed Saturday morning and three other youths were injured when the stolen car they were riding in swerved out of control and flipped near Palmdale, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said. The accident occurred at 11:20 a.m. on Avenue Q, east of 110th Street East.