When a star athlete on a California team is involved in an accident or other newsworthy event, the news reports may seem to try and sway public opinion either for or against the star. On Sept. 2, a star slugger on the Los Angeles Angels team was involved in an accident on the 55 freeway at about 9 p.m. He was reportedly on his way home after a game and dinner with other players when he ran into backed-up traffic from one or more car accidents ahead.
The baseball slugger was Mike Trout, a popular player with the Angels. When he approached the backed-up traffic, he did not stop in time to prevent colliding into another vehicle. The collision sent a 27-year old woman to a hospital with “major” injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol. If anyone benefited from the reporting on the accident, it would appear to be Trout, who did not get grilled on why he could not stop in time to prevent the serious collision.
Trout said that he could not discuss the case until the investigation was complete. Insurance carriers will also be doing their own investigations at the same time, and they will be making their assessments of who was at fault. However, this accident is fairly clear in terms of liability. Trout hit a stopped vehicle because he did not have his car under sufficient control to stop in time.
The laws in California and elsewhere all try to prevent car accidents by requiring the operator to have his vehicle under control and to be driving slowly enough to stop in time to avoid hitting traffic ahead. Hopefully, he will not suffer a delayed reaction of back or neck pain from the accident, which sometimes does occur. The most important consideration at this point is whether the injured woman will make a strong recovery. Trout will very likely be required to compensate her for all aspects of her recoverable damages, but sometimes no amount of money is quite sufficient to erase the effects of a permanent and severe injury.
Source: ocregister.com, “Angels’ Mike Trout shaken after ‘scary’ car accident on 55 freeway“, Jeff Fletcher, Sept. 2, 2016
