Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP attorneys Brian Panish, Rahul Ravipudi and Erika Contreras obtained a $13,000,000 settlement for the children and parents of a woman who was killed when her car was hit by a Hawthorne, California police officer.
On July 24, 2013, Karina Preza was exiting her driveway at approximately 2 a.m. to pick up her husband from work when she was broadsided at a high speed by a Hawthorne City police vehicle. The officer had been responding to a vehicle vs. pedestrian accident but had decided to not “roll Code 3” – i.e, he failed to engage his sirens and lights to warn the public of his speeding vehicle. The officer proceeded to operate his vehicle on surface streets that had a 40 miles per hour posted speed limit in excess of 80 miles an hour and hit and killed Ms. Preza.
The case settled at mediation.