Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA — A woman sunbathing on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, had to be taken to the hospital after she was hit by a lifeguard SUV on Tuesday, September 16, 2014.
The 25-year old woman was hit around 4:15 in the afternoon by a lifeguard who was coming back after responding to a call about people swimming too close to some rocks. Reports say the SUV wasn’t using lights or sirens.
Authorities are calling the collision a tragic accident. They say that the lifeguard stopped after the accident and stayed with the woman until authorities came on the scene.
The woman was taken to UCLA Medical Center. No other injuries were reported.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
In legal cases, everyone knows that lawyers have to focus on facts and evidence, etc. But once all of those boxes have been checked, lawyers really try to convey to juries two main concepts. How avoidable an accident was and how obvious it should have been to the defendant that their conduct could have caused the plaintiffs injury.
This accident is almost a textbook example of the concepts of avoidability and foreseeability. Surely, when you’re driving a vehicle on the beach, especially one you know is well-used, it’s obvious that you should be on the lookout for people, and to avoid hitting them. Clearly that pretty basic concept was not taken into consideration here, and the questions I’d really want the answers to are why and how. Could this be a situation where there was something incredibly important that demand the lifeguard’s attention, giving him a valid excuse to put beach-goer safety as less of a priority? Or is there something more basic at work here, like a driver who was distracted.
— Grossman Law Offices
