Woman Hit by Car Files Suit
A Palo Alto woman whose leg was shattered in a Manhattan Beach traffic accident caused by a driver under the influence of LSD has filed a suit seeking more than $2 million in damages.
Elena Duarte, 24, was sitting on a bus bench at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Highland Avenue on May 5, 1989, when 19-year-old Heather Tolles sped into the intersection. Tolles’ car collided with one driven by a woman who was nine months pregnant and then ran into the bench where Duarte sat.
Both the pregnant woman, Laura Obele, and her fetus died in the crash.
Duarte’s suit, filed this week in Torrance Superior Court, seeks damages from Tolles; Tolles’ father, Stephen, and Deborah Simmons, a friend of Tolles who was riding in the car at the time of the accident.
The suit also seeks damages from Obele’s estate.
Tolles pleaded no contest in October to manslaughter charges and was sentenced to seven years in state prison. She is serving the term in the California Youth Authority.
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