Statues in the Wallenstein Gardens - Prague (April 2004)
There's no particular story to go with this picture, but an interesting thing happened at school yesterday. Around 4:00 in the morning, a car thief being pursued by the police chose to come up Anderson street, which is the main road through campus here. He was going 120 mph in a 45mph zone. He lost control of his car coming over the bridge before reaching campus and hit the curb, which sent his car flying around 200 feet. It collided with the building I have most of my classes in, killing him instantly. There is surprisingly no visible damage to the building at all. The police cordoned off the entire area around the crash site and proceeded with a long accident investigation. They eventually got around to cutting the guy out of the car around 10:00. I have trouble feeling sorry for people who do this sort of thing to themselves, especially since he was endangering who knows how many people through his moronic actions; extremely bad choices lead to extremely quick death.
The full news report is posted in the comments.
Concocted By An Enlightened Fellow on Tuesday, April 12, 2005
1 Comments:
Man driving stolen vehicle dies in crash after chase
By Lolita Harper, Staff Writer
LOMA LINDA - A five-minute police chase ended with a fatality Monday morning after a 23-year-old man lost control of a stolen car and crashed into a lecture hall at Loma Linda University.
Campus life was interrupted Monday morning as students, faculty members and staffers watched firefighters work to extricate the body of La Puente resident Dennis Emmanuel Figueroa, who was pronounced dead at the scene hours earlier.
An unnamed patrol officer first spotted Figueroa at 3:59 a.m. near the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and Bellview Street on San Bernardino's west side near the Colton border.
Lt. Mark Garcia said the officer thought the vehicle had been partially stripped and ran the license plate in his car-mounted computer to see if it was reported stolen.
"He thought it looked suspicious,' Garcia said.
The 2002 Nissan Altima was reported stolen out of Los Angeles. The officer tried to pull Figueroa over but he refused and sped away heading north on Mount Vernon, then east on Rialto Avenue, police said.
At some point along Rialto Avenue, Figueroa pulled over to let out his passenger, Garcia said. The passenger was not detained and police continued chasing Figueroa east on Rialto, he said.
Figueroa ran numerous stop signs and red lights, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph, police said.
He turned south on Tippecanoe Avenue past Interstate 10 where it turns into Anderson Street and cut through Loma Linda University.
The street curves to the east just south of Stewart Street in the heart of the campus. It was there that Figueroa spun out of control and slammed into the side of the Randall Visitors Center.
The vehicle was facing north when it came to rest.
Medical aid was called at 4:04 a.m., police said. Figueroa was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:15 a.m.
The exact cause of the accident is under investigation by the sheriff's Major Accident Investigation Team also known at MAIT.
The mangled car sat crumpled against the brick wall at 9:30 a.m. Monday, with the driver side folded into the passenger side.
On the other side of the solid brick wall, which seemed to sustain no damage other than a smearing of white paint, was a lecture hall.
"We're supposed to have class in there in like five or 10 minutes,' physical therapy student Jennifer Orr said.
Loma Linda firefighters worked to remove Figueroa's body from the wreckage Monday morning. Special tools gnawed through the metal of the car, creating a distinct crunching sound.
Firefighters smashed the windshield and pried pieces of the car's body from its frame.
Firefighters hung large red sheets to block the gory view, but the medical students strained to see what they could.
"We're studying medicine,' Orr said. "We've seen dead bodies.'
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