Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
There is nothing so tragic as a baby, toddler or young child being hurt or killed as a result of an accident. What makes things more unbearable for parents is when that accident could have been avoided through forethought or other preventative measures. Kids hurt as a result of automobile and trucking-related collisions fall into this category.
Whereas, some roadway incidents may occur as a result of truly unexpected circumstances, the factors that lead to some of these traffic-related accidents, which ultimately cause personal injury, can often be tied to some failure of man or machine; nature, of course, being one of the less controllable factors.
Being personal injury attorneys here in Maryland, we typically represent persons seriously hurt or injured in and around Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Annapolis and Washington, D.C. While some of the more deadly accidents involve motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrian collisions with cars and truck, automobile wrecks generally represent a range of outcomes.
Low-speed car crashes, what some might refer to as fender-benders, can cause some small amount of injuries — such as cuts, bruises and minor lacerations. While a low-speed crash may seem minor, if a driver or passenger is not wearing his or her seatbelt there could be worse injuries, such as broken bones or head concussions. With more speed comes greater risk of closed-head trauma (a.k.a. traumatic brain injury) and a potential for long-term hospitalization and/or prolonged physical rehabilitation.
Although children are resilient, a passenger car, minivan, SUV or school bus accident can involve one or more children with injuries ranging from mild to severe. Again, depending on the speed of the vehicles involved, and the specific circumstances, a child may suffer head or spine injury, bruising or even rupture of internal organs, and life-threatening cuts or lacerations. Kids may be able to bounce back from some injuries, but they can suffer serious effects from excessive blood loss.
A while back a news story alerted us to a small child, an 18-month-old toddler, who was badly hurt in an Ocean County auto accident. According to news reports, the little girl was riding in her mother’s car when it was hit from behind at a stop light at an Ocean City intersection. Based on police reports, Anne DelRicco was stopped at a red traffic signal along a stretch of 142nd Street when a pickup slammed into the woman’s Lexus, pushing the vehicle a full 100 feet from the impact site.
Following the accident, emergency personnel apparently transported the little girl to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for emergency treatment of her injuries. However, the crash was so severe that the injured baby had to be placed into a medically-induced coma in order for doctors to try and save the little one’s life.
Ocean City police investigators believe that the pickup, driven by 47-year-old Andre J. Kaczynski, was going more than 60mph when it struck DelRicco’s vehicle. The man was pulled from his vehicle by a bystander; meanwhile, police reportedly found a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) in the man’s truck. According to news reports, after officers recovered an amount of Phencyclidine (PCP) from inside the pickup truck, Kaczynski was arrested and charged with PCP possession, driving under the influence of same, and causing life-threatening injuries to two persons while impaired by PCP.
Less than a week following the crash, police again arrested Kaczynski on additional charges of PCP and marijuana possession; this following a legal search of the suspect’s home in Ocean Pines, MD.
As young victim recovers in Balt. hospital, suspect arrested again, OceanCityToday.net, December 30, 2011