The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported in an article that a 6-year-old girl and her mother were seriously injured in a Burlingame pedestrian accident. Holly Rogers, 49, and her daughter, Caroline Schoustra (now age 7), were selling Girl Scout cookies outside of a Burlingame grocery store when a motor vehicle struck them, pinning the mother-daughter pair between the car and the building. The motor vehicle, a Lexus belonging to Paul Glad, 59, of San Mateo, pinned Holly Rogers with such force that her left leg was beyond repair and needed to be amputated above the knee, leaving her disabled. Her daughter suffered from multiple leg fractures. There were also three other people who suffered injuries due to the automobile accident in Burlingame, two 6-year-old girls and a 53-year-old man, but they were all treated at a local hospital and promptly released.
Paul Glad told police that he inadvertently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake while attempting to park his vehicle. However, Holly Rogers told authorities that Mr. Glad began to get out of his car even before it had come to a complete stop, and failed to shift the vehicle into park. Paul Glad did not show any signs of intoxication or impairment, although he did inform police that he had taken Oxycontin, a prescription painkiller, earlier in the day as treatment for a previous spinal injury he had sustained. Furthermore, Mr. Glad attempted to park his car in a space reserved for disabled drivers, although no mention of whether or not Mr. Glad legally qualified to park in that type of parking spot was made.
Negligence played a significant role in determining Holly Rodgers’s fate. If you, like Holly, have suffered from a debilitating injury that has permanently changed your life, you need the help of a personal injury lawyer more than ever. The Northern California personal injury attorneys at Van Der Walde & Associates specialize in cases regarding pedestrian and automobile accidents, and are prepared to assist you with your case in every way possible.
