Auto Accidents

A 69-year-old Westlake Village man died when the car he was driving was sideswiped on Kanan Road on Friday night, authorities said. Jacques Bloome was pronounced dead at Los Robles Regional Medical Center at 10:30 p.m. of chest and abdominal injuries, authorities said. The accident occurred at Kanan Road and Golf Course Drive about 9:45 p.m.

Jamie Dantzscher could be bitter. She could be angry or hurt or depressed. She could have discarded her sport in disgust and refused to talk about the 2000 Olympics again. But she isn't bitter. She is an Olympian. That's important. Even better, her father John, who was willing to move his family from Palmdale to San Dimas so Jamie could get the best coaching possible, was at the Arrowhead Pond on Monday night.

The FBI arrested 12 people Thursday and was searching for seven others in what the bureau said was a highly organized fraud ring that staged auto accidents to cheat insurance companies out of millions of dollars annually. Those arrested included Sam "Niko" Lahooti, the man suspected of being the head "capper," or person who orchestrated the potentially dangerous automobile accidents and recruited bogus victims to file insurance claims, authorities said.

A 44-year-old local woman was killed and four others seriously injured when a half-ton pickup truck broadsided a car here Tuesday evening just north of Oxnard, authorities said. Rogelia Ramirez died at the scene of the crash, which occurred about 5:15 p.m. on Santa Clara Avenue between Central Avenue and Friedrich Road, just around the corner from her home, authorities said.

Patti Wright was driving to her home in Rancho Santa Margarita from a dental appointment the day before Thanksgiving 1998. As she waited to turn left, another driver barreled through a red light and crashed into the front of her red BMW 325i. The accident strained her hand and hurt her neck. The car was totaled, and it took Wright, a 48-year-old operations manager for a developer, four or five months before she could get in a car and feel comfortable again.

As the sun set and a lone gull glided overhead Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 people gathered at Newport Harbor High School to mourn the loss of a football player who died in a car crash on Mother's Day. On the football field where Andre Stewart excelled as a running back, classmates and friends placed flowers and balloons near his jersey, weeping as they made their way to the bleachers to applaud him one last time.

Andre Stewart had the accolades to show how he starred as a running back at Newport Harbor High. And his teammates, coaches and opponents will keep their memories of how he went about becoming Orange County's leading rusher and the best player on an undefeated, championship football team. Stewart was killed in an automobile accident early Sunday in Riverside County. He was 18. His backup on the Newport Harbor football team, senior Ryan Brill, recalled how Stewart played with passion.

Anywhere from 10% to 45% of those injured in auto accidents suffer later from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to recent research. Good Carma offers advice for accident survivors.

In the 30 minutes it takes you to peruse the newspaper this morning, two Americans will be killed and another 20 injured by gunfire. The shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and the day-care center in Granada Hills highlight this carnage. People across our state and throughout our country are calling for action to reduce these and other tragic incidents.