The sister of the pregnant woman who died in a California car crash that killed five other people said the family has forgiven the driver arrested in the fatal collision.
Sha’seana Kerr — whose sister Asherey Ryan was among the victims in the Thursday wreck — expressed sympathy for Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, who allegedly caused the crash after she blew a red light at a Los Angeles intersection.
“I just want to tell her that we forgive her,” Kerr told news station KTLA.
“She will have to live with this for the rest of her life. That’s why she was spared. We understand it already.”
On Thursday about 1:40 pm, a Mercedes-Benz sped through a red light before it slammed into through traffic, video of the tragic crash obtained by RMG News shows.
Investigators allege that Linton – a nurse with Kaiser Permanente’s West Los Angeles Medical Center – was driving over 100 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, Fox 11 reported.
Ryan’s unborn child, her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero and her boyfriend Reynold Lester all died in the collision.Ashley Ryan/FacebookAsherey Ryan, a 23-year-old who was pregnant, was among the several victims on Thursday, when a speeding driver blew a red light at a Los Angeles intersection. RMG
Ryan’s unborn child, her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero and her boyfriend Reynold Lester all died in the collision. Lester had reportedly been driving her to a prenatal checkup at the time of the crash.
Six minors and two adults were also injured in the wreck.
In the interview Saturday, Ryan’s sister said she was her “first best friend.”
“The first person I knew. The first person I probably had a conversation with,” she said at a gathering at the site of the crash. She’s my only big sister. Every day we take our sons outside and we walk them around the block. Cada dia. The neighbors know us. Today, I had to take that walk alone with my son.”
Six minors and two adults were also injured in the wreck.Los Angeles Times via Getty ImageRyan’s sister, Sha’seana Kerr, said Saturday, “I just want to tell her that we forgive her,” according to a local TV station. Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
Officials on Friday arrested Linton on charges of vehicular manslaughter and gross negligence.
The case has been referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Linton — who has been hospitalized for major injuries she sustained in the wreck — is expected to appear in court Monday.
A 37-year-old woman is facing vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with a fiery wreck near Los Angeles Thursday afternoon that left five people dead, including a pregnant woman and a child.
California Highway Patrol said Friday that Nicole Lorraine Linton was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz sedan when it sped through a red light and slammed into several vehicles in Windsor Hills, a neighborhood southeast of downtown LA
Linton remains hospitalized with moderate injuries and has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, CHP said. Her case is being forwarded to the LA County District Attorney’s Office.
“Our office is in close contact with the lead law enforcement agency investigating,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “A prosecutor has already been assigned and will be working with law enforcement throughout the weekend. We will provide updates as more information becomes available. The case could be presented to us as early as Monday.”
The violent crash was captured on security video. Multiple people were ejected and two vehicles were engulfed in flames, CHP said.
The car was going at least 50 mph as it raced through the crowded intersection, CHP Officer Franco Pepi said.
Officials investigate a fiery crash where multiple people were killed near Los Angeles on Aug. 4, 2022.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
The coroner’s office Friday identified one of the deceased victims as Asherey Ryan, a 23-year-old pregnant woman. Her unborn child was listed as “baby boy Ryan” in online coroner’s records. Two other women and a man, as well as a boy, were killed but their names were not made public.
Pepi said eight others were hurt, including Linton. The other victims had minor injuries and included a 33-year-old woman and six children ranging in age from 13 months old to 15 years old, Pepi said.
CHP said Friday that “due to extensive fire damage, it is unknown at this time the make and model of the involved vehicles and which vehicle the involved parties were traveling in.”
A memorial grew outside the intersection Friday, as mourners left flowers and candles in memory of the dead.
Henry Sanchez, who works at nearby Sinclair Gas, was at the indoor register when he heard “the loudest noise I’ve ever heard.”
“The sound of it, it was gut-wrenching,” he told The Associated Press on Friday. “It was like two trains hitting each other, metal on metal.”
He saw people rush to the cars to offer aid but they were kept back by the flames until firefighters arrived.
“I remember everybody trying to get the fire down and help people out as much as they could, but nobody could do anything,” he said.
Another witness to the crash, Veronica Esquivel, told KTLA-TV that a baby was ejected from the vehicle and landed near her.
“All of the sudden, a baby literally flew from the middle of the intersection to the middle of the gas station and landed right on the floor in front of me,” Esquival said. “One of the workers came and saw me with the baby and took the baby out of my hands. … Somebody tried to resuscitate the baby but the baby was gone.”
Debra Jackson told CBS Los Angeles she was about to get out of her car to pump gas when she heard a big explosion.
“The flames just went over everybody,” Jackson said. “The flames went over my whole car and they told me to jump out of my car … because I was trying to get out of my car, to go to the gas pump. And I jumped out of my car and just left my car sitting right there.”
A retired Washington DC police lieutenant has been arrested on a manslaughter charge after he shot and killed a library cop during a baton training exercise on Thursday, police said.
Jesse Porter, 58, was wrapping up a training session in a conference room at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library just after 3:30 pm. when he fired a shot that struck 25-year-old Maurica Manyan, the DC Metropolitan Police Department said.
The public library special police officer, from lndian Head, Maryland, was rushed to an area hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
An investigation revealed that Porter, who retired as a Metro PD lieutenant in 2020 and was working as a private contractor, was providing instruction on the use of retractable batons to library officers when he allegedly fired the shot that killed Manyan.
A firearm was recovered on scene, police said.
There were about six people in the conference room at the time, including other library police officers, but no one else was hurt.
Jesse Porterhe fired a shot that struck and killed Maurica Manyan.LinkedIn
The city’s public library system has its own force of full-time special police officers who can be armed and are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the library branches.
Porter was arrested on an involuntary manslaughter charge after police consulted with the US attorney’s office in Washington. He remained in custody on Friday.
At a news conference shortly after the shooting, DC Metro Police Chief Robert Contee said it was unclear why Porter was armed with a gun during the training exercise.
Generally, law enforcement agencies take stride to ensure trainers and participants do not have access to live ammunition or actual firearms during training programs, to avoid the possibility of accidental gunfire.
“It’s not good practice,” Contee said. “I’m not sure in this situation why the trainer had a live weapon in the training environment. But it is not a good practice to do this.”
DC Metro Police said it was unclear why Porter was armed during the training exercise.The Washington Post via Getty Im
Police did not say why Porter fired his weapon, but unnamed sources told NBC4 that the retired cop allegedly drew his gun to show how quickly it could be done and discharged the live round that hit Manyan in the chest.
A Victorian man has been jailed for 25 years over the stabbing murder of his partner in front of their children.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains the name and images of a person who has died.
Key points:
Noeline Dalzell’s three children tried to shield their mother during the fatal attack
The court heard James Fairhall had breached an intervention order in the months before the murder
Fairhall will be eligible for parole in 16 years
Noeline Dalzell died on a Seaford driveway, in Melbourne’s south-east, in 2020.
James Leonard Fairhall, her partner and the children’s father, was today sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria to 25 years in prison for her murder.
The 47-year-old was found guilty by a jury in December last year after a trial lasting nearly a fortnight.
He had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, which prosecutors rejected.
“You stabbed Noeline in front of your three children while they tried to deter you and protect their mother,” the Supreme Court’s Justice Jane Dixon told Fairhall in his sentencing hearing.
He was given a non-parole period of 18.6 years. With 913 days already served, he will be eligible for parole in 16 years.
On February 4, 2020, an argument broke out in the family home between Ms Dalzell and Fairhall after he learned she was seeing another man.
The couple were separated at the time, but Fairhall had been back sleeping on the couch at the Seaford home for two months.
That was despite an intervention order issued in 2018 banning him from being there or even contacting Ms Dalzell.
He had breached that intervention order previously, in what police described as incidents of family violence.
Son pushed father away in bid to protect his mother, judge says
On the day of her death, their children, aged 13, 15 and 16 at the time, arrived home from high school to find their parents arguing.
Their father seemed drunk and angry, they testified.
He became progressively more aggressive, following Ms Dalzell around the house carrying a pair of scissors.
Those scissors were eventually discarded and replaced by a big kitchen knife.
Her loved ones say Noeline Dalzell was an angel with a ‘cheeky smile’.(Supplied)
Ms Dalzell took refuge with her children in the bedroom of her only son as her kids screamed at their dad to stop.
“You threatened to kill Noeline and tried to get past your children to get at her,” Justice Dixon said to Fairhall during his sentencing.
“Your son pushed you to try and keep you away.
“Suddenly you reached over the top of your children and stabbed Noeline once to the left side of the neck with the knife you were wielding.”
Neighbor showed ‘considerable courage’ in bid to save Ms Dalzell’s life
In Ms Dalzell’s final moments she attempted to flag down help from neighbours, who tried unsuccessfully to save her life.
Despite initially using a second knife to threaten a neighbor who tried to help, Fairhall did eventually assist with first aid, which Justice Dixon considered in deciding the length of his sentence.
“[The neighbour] was about to call triple-0, when you approached him brandishing the second knife and told him not to call the cops,” Justice Dixon said.
“I have retreated into his house and locked the front door.
“Minutes later, displaying considerable courage, he went back outside to offer help in response to the unfolding commotion.”
But it was too late.
Noeline was 49.
Noeline Dalzell is remembered as a great person and mother.(Supplied)
Fairhall had a criminal history of violence and had floated family violence intervention orders in the past.
Justice Dixon said the attack was not spontaneous.
“You were following Noeline around the house before the incident and pursued her into the bedroom, before reaching past and over your children to stab her,” she said.
She noted to ongoing impact the murder had on those children.
“Three young lives forever changed by your despicable violence,” Justice Dixon told the convicted murderer.
“There is an enormous hole left in their lives by the loss of their mother.”
At her funeral in 2020, Ms Dalzell was remembered as a proud mother and a passionate Essendon supporter.
“She was a great person, she was a great mum to these kids,” her sister-in-law Jenny Dalzell told the ABC in 2020.
“What happened to her was just tragic, it shouldn’t have happened.”
The man accused of murdering an alleged home intruder near Katherine earlier this year, will likely plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, a court has heard.
Key points:
Kim Kellett, 38, will likely plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter
Prosecutors have withdrawn the earlier murder charge
Mr Kellett is accused of shooting dead an alleged home intruder in March
Kim Kellett has been in prison sincely alleged shooting a 26-year-old man on his property at the Cutta Cutta Caves National Park in March.
The 38-year-old appeared in the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday via video link from the local correctional centre, dressed in a red prison-issued T-shirt which usually indicates the inmate is held under maximum security conditions.
Senior Crown Prosecutor, Marty Aust, told the court the original murder charge would be withdrawn and replaced with the lesser charge of manslaughter.
“The Crown will be relying on a reckless manslaughter charge,” he said.
“The facts that make out that charge have been reduced to writing and there is agreement between the parties as to the facts in full, for plea in the Supreme Court.”
A set of agreed facts was given to the judge, but not read in open court.
The court heard the man is likely to plead guilty. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Mr Kellett’s lawyer, Peter Maley, told the court his client would likely plead guilty when the matter reached the Supreme Court next month.
“It will be ultimately a plea of guilty to an amended count two, for recklessly causing the death,” he said.
Despite indicating a guilty plea, the charge Mr Kellett faces is too serious to be dealt with by the Local Court.
“I am satisfied the evidence is sufficient to put the defendant on his trial in respect of count two [manslaughter],” Judge John Neill said.
“I direct he be tried at the Supreme Court in Darwin.”
Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Mr Kellett’s case will be mentioned in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on September 1.
