No charges filed in the death of a 7 year old Norwalk girl| Toledo, Ohio Child Accident Attorney

No charges are being filed in the unfortunate death of a 7-year-old pedestrian that happened about two weeks ago. The little girl Iris L. Radcliffe stepped in front of a van being driven by Richard S. Puzder. For an accident to be deemed a felony there has to be evidence that the driver was driving recklessly, was intoxicated or did not obey one of the motor vehicle laws. In this case it does not look like Richard did any of those three things. Jay Price saw the accident happen; he was sitting on his porch relaxing. He watched as two older girls crossed the street just before the little girl did. The two older girls told the little girl to wait because there was traffic and she responded I know. The driver never even had a chance to stop; the little girl's body ended up around 30 or 40 feet away. Another neighbor Karen Miller was the one who called 911 and then she went over to the little girl's side. She said her pulse was so weak it took her some time to find it but thought the little girl would be okay because she had taken two big deep breathes. The captain of the Norwalk Police said there were trees along the side of the road that could have blocked the driver from seeing her and he also said we don't exactly know where she stepped into the road.
The crash investigator Dave Lichoff calculated the driver's speed using two different methods. One way he used the skid marks, using a formula of when the little girl hit the van, it was determined that the driver was going 33 and the posted speed limit is 35. The Police Chief explains that when someone is driving 35 your vehicle goes a little more than 50 feet a second and your response time could be as quick as ¾ of a second. Using this that means the driver could have gone more than 38 feet by the time he saw that the little girl was in the road.
If your child or a child you know has been injured in an accident, call our Toledo, Ohio child injury attorneys at 800.637.8170 for a free case evaluation or to request a free copy of Little kids, Big Accidents: The Ultimate Guide to Child Injury Cases in Ohio.