LOS ANGELES, July 15 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who ran over and killed a former Napster chief operating officer with his patrol car sent numerous text messages just prior to the incident.
According to cellphone records obtained as evidence, Deputy Andrew Wood sent six text messages from his personal cellphone just before striking Milton Olin Jr. on December 8, 2013.
"Witnesses who were in a vehicle directly behind Deputy Wood's radio car at the time of the collision told investigators that the radio car failed to negotiate the left curve in the roadway and proceeded straight into the bicycle lane," according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Russell A. Townsley.
"Based on my experience as a traffic collision investigator, and witnesses statements indicating the radio car continued straight, failed to negotiate the left curve in the roadway, and no brake light being illuminated prior to the collision; it appears that Deputy Wood may have been distracted by using his cellular telephone or viewing and/or using the Mobile Digital Computer (MDC) in his radio car at the time of the collision."
Olin's family has filed a negligent and reckless driving claim against Los Angeles County, and has the right to sue if the claim is rejected.
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