Fatal Pedestrian Accident in Encinitas
A 12-year-old girl, who was in a crosswalk at the time, was killed in an April 25, 2025 vehicle collision in Encinitas.
Officials said a Nissan Xterra, driven by a 44-year-old man, was heading westbound when it collided with a Ford Fusion driven by another 44-year-old man. The force of the collision caused the Xterra to hit the girl. Emergency responders rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was later declared dead.
Both drivers stayed at the scene. The use of alcohol or drugs is not believed to be a factor in the ongoing investigation, according to investigators.
Pedestrian Injuries
The pedestrian car crash death rate is significantly higher than the vehicle occupant car crash death rate. Many safety and design innovations, such as seatbelts and airbags, protect vehicle occupants during collisions. But pedestrians have no such protections. Therefore, even a relatively low-speed collision often causes serious pedestrian injuries such as:
- Internal Injuries: The force of a collision, like the one in the above story, often shows internal organs against one another. These organs don’t have protective skin layers. As a result, minor abrasions often bleed profusely. This internal bleeding is hard to detect and hard to stop.
- Broken Bones: When a 2,000-plus pound automobile strikes a 100-plus pound victim, the impact usually crushes the victim’s bones. Since doctors must use metal components, like pins and screws, to surgically reconstruct these bones, medical bills are much higher and the recovery period is much longer.
- Brain Injuries: Continuing a familiar theme, most brain injuries are motion related as opposed to impact related. When a vehicle hits a pedestrian and the victim falls, the brain slams violently and repeatedly against the skull. This internal impact causes bleeding, swelling, and other brain injuries which are frequently fatal.
Because these injuries are so serious, the average injury-related hospital bill is over $40,000. Most health insurance plans exclude these costs, and most families cannot possibly pay them out of pocket.
A Carlsbad personal injury lawyer connects victims with doctors who focus on these injuries and, in most cases, charge nothing upfront for their services.
Legal Issues
These bills, like other accident-related bills, must be paid eventually. If a Carlsbad personal injury lawyer proves negligence, or a lack of care, by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not, financial compensation is available.
This compensation includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
An ordinary negligence case has five basic elements (duty, breach, cause-in-fact, foreseeability, and damages). For the purposes of this post, we’ll focus on two of them.
Most drivers have a duty of reasonable care. They must avoid accidents if possible and always drive defensively. This duty extends not only to other drivers, but also to everyone else who shares the road, including pedestrians.
Foreseeability of injury is basically the possibility of injury. This concept often comes up in chain-reaction crashes, like the one in the above story. When two vehicles crash, it’s possible, albeit unlikely, that one could careen out of control and strike a pedestrian. Foreseeability is even easier to prove if a victim was in a crosswalk, as opposed to on the sidewalk.
On the other hand, if a doctor makes a medical mistake during surgery on a victim, that injury isn’t foreseeable. Compensation is available for the second injury, but a lawyer must file a separate claim.
Count on a Hard-Hitting San Diego County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Carlsbad, contact the Pursley Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.
Source:
nbcsandiego.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-killed-by-vehicle-encinitas/3812199/
