Body Located in Wrecked Car at Tow Yard

[PapaBear]

Someone is going to get some time off, I think!!!

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Authorities want to know how the woman was overlooked when the driver, her son, was removed at crash scene.

By Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 17, 2007

The body of an elderly woman was discovered Sunday in the front passenger side of a crumpled car in a San Fernando Valley towing company's yard -- a day after paramedics had removed her son from the same vehicle after a crash, authorities said.

The woman, whose identity was not released, had apparently been left in the car at the accident scene in Tarzana even as her son was taken to a hospital, police said.

Investigators began looking for her after family members reported that two relatives -- not one -- were missing, Officer Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

"We conducted a follow-up to the tow yard, and we discovered the woman inside the vehicle," Lopez said. "She was dead."

LAPD detectives and officials on Sunday afternoon and evening swarmed the vehicle lot at Howard Sommers Towing Inc., an official police impound and tow yard in Canoga Park, trying to determine how city paramedics and traffic officers had failed to spot the woman in the damaged vehicle.

The slightly built woman had been concealed beneath an air bag that had deployed during the accident, police said. The vehicle was badly banged-up after crashing into a building.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office dispatched investigators late Sunday to examine and remove the body.

"There are a lot of questions and we don't have all of the answers," Lopez said, adding that authorities are "conducting an investigation surrounding this unfortunate incident."

The incident began about 10 a.m. Saturday when the vehicle driven by the woman's son hit a parked car in a bank parking lot and then crashed into the building at 19255 W. Ventura Blvd.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics removed the driver from the vehicle and took him to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said spokesman Brian Humphrey. He did not release the driver's name, age or medical condition.

The car was then towed about seven miles to the impound yard, where it sat overnight. The city's Department of Building and Safety, meanwhile, was called in to check for structural damage at the bank after the car was pulled from the building.

On Sunday afternoon, authorities called the impound yard and asked an employee to look in the vehicle for anything unusual, a source said.

About 3:15 p.m., the Fire Department's emergency medical technicians were summoned by the towing yard, Humphrey said. "We had one person declared deceased at the scene. . . .

"Obviously, there is interest in our department in what happened. We are awaiting the results of the LAPD investigation. It's purely a law enforcement investigation at this time."

The coroner's office dispatched investigators late Sunday to examine and remove the woman's body.

They did not reach an immediate conclusion as to the precise time or cause of death, said coroner's spokesman Lt. John Kades. Such details will come after a more thorough examination of the body.

"The doctors may have a conclusion after the autopsy if this person died instantly or not," Kades said.

"That's a possibility, but there's no way to tell or predict."

ken.weiss@latimes.com
__________________

[mavriktu]

RUH ROE

[Big Al]

RUH ROE

YUP!

[Probation13-901]

I don't know how you can miss a body!

[CW Mock]

It's easier to do than you think, especially at night. I always look around for extra bodies at crash scenes, just in case. Heard enough stories like these.

[AITG]

I nearly had one in broad daylight. A small-statured female (unrestrained) was alone in a Chevy S-10 pickup when she tried to make a left turn onto a busy five lane highway. The truck got hit broadside by a full size Chevy van. The truck belonged to a sign painter. There were some drop cloths on the passenger's side floor. In the crash, the driver ended up on the floor ... covered with a quart of day-glo pink paint.
The other driver said he thought the truck had rolled away into the street unoccupied. I looked in the cab and was quite sure it was empty until I saw one of the cloths move.

[armsmaster270]

thats a 10 on the awww shit o meter

[Ducky]

Best outcome of this would be to find she died instantly.

[slick628]

whoops

[k-9max]

Wow! this is unreal, i hope for her sake, that she died instantly, and not because she needed medical treatment.

[k-9max]

Thread moved to "In the news".

[CT209]

Maybe she wasn't wearing a seltbelt and slid under the dash. After the airbag deployed and then deflated, it covered her up??? Those passenger side airbags are pretty big. Add in side airbags if there were any, there's a lot of crap draped in the car.

Still going to be a problem for someone, but it could happen.

[PapaBear]

Apparently, she died shortly after the accident...............

Woman found in tow yard died soon after crash, officials say

A dead body was found in a wrecked car at Howard Sommers Towing in Canoga Park Sunday, December 16, 2007.
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The 72-year-old Paso Robles resident was discovered, dead, Sunday afternoon in a car that had been removed from the scene of a wreck that occurred Saturday morning. State agency launches investigation
By Robert J. Lopez and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
December 18, 2007
Authorities launched investigations Monday to determine whether rescuers properly assessed an accident scene where a 72-year-old woman was left inside a crumpled car that was towed to a police impound lot.

Shirley Lee Williams of Paso Robles, Calif., died within minutes after the car driven by her son plowed into a Tarzana office complex Saturday morning, according to a preliminary report by the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

The report did not address whether the woman could have been saved had paramedics quickly treated her.

The car, driven by Steven Williams, 48, also of Paso Robles, tore through the back of a stucco building and shattered wood supports and plaster. His mother was in the passenger seat. Her body, apparently hidden by an inflated air bag, was not discovered until Sunday, after relatives reported her missing.

"I'm confident that no one saw a body in there, but the question is why they didn't see it," said Deputy Chief Michel Moore, who is overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department's investigation of the incident.

The state Emergency Medical Services Authority has launched a separate probe to determine whether Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics properly evaluated the accident and provided appropriate care to Steven Williams.

"When questioned if anyone else was in the vehicle, the driver indicated there was no one else," Moore said. "He was conscious, he was breathing, and he was able to respond to questions."

A key question, however, is whether Williams understood what rescuers were asking.

Under Fire Department medical protocols, paramedics have to determine a patient's level of awareness and assess whether he may be impaired by trauma caused from accidents.

State investigators will focus, in part, on how the paramedics assessed Williams and whether they "failed to fully evaluate the scene," said Dr. Cesar Aristeiguieta, director of the EMS authority.

The agency regulates paramedics and can suspend or revoke their licenses for violating medical care standards.

Another key question, authorities say, is why rescuers did not search the car for passengers.

"It's reasonable to expect that the police and Fire Department at the scene would look in the car," Moore said.

Steven Williams was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was in critical but stable condition Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

An autopsy conducted Monday listed Shirley Williams' manner of death as multiple force trauma, said Lt. Fred Corral of the coroner's investigations division. He described her injuries as consistent with those seen in traffic fatalities.

Initially, her time of death was listed as 3:35 p.m. Sunday, when paramedics arrived at the tow yard and pronounced her dead.

Police began looking for the woman Sunday after family members reported that two relatives, not one, were missing, LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said.

On Sunday afternoon, authorities called the impound yard and asked an employee to check the vehicle for anything unusual, a source said. The employee reported seeing a body inside.

Later, LAPD detectives and officials swarmed the vehicle lot at Howard Sommers Towing Inc., an official police impound and tow compound in Canoga Park.

The vehicle was badly damaged. Shirley Williams, described by police as slightly built, was concealed beneath an air bag that had deployed.

"It covered up the lady, and for whatever reason, nobody saw her," said a Fire Department official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the incident.

Moore said that the LAPD detectives still had to interview a number of witnesses.

"This is extremely, extremely out of the norm," he said. "We're going to get to the bottom of this."

robert.lopez@latimes.com

molly.hennessy-fiske

@latimes.com

Times staff writers Rich Connell and Kenneth R. Weiss contributed to this report.

[Star Man]

thats a 10 on the awww shit o meter

I'm thinking more like a 15 on the meter out of a possible 10 max score!!!