McAllen, Texas Criminal Defense, Divorce and DWI Lawyer Johnathan Ball

March 19, 2010

McAllen Police Officer Arrested for DWI

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Johnathan Ball @ 8:39 am

McAllen officer charged with DWI

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March 01, 2010 6:57 PM
Jeremy Roebuck
The Monitor

ALAMO — A McAllen police officer has been suspended without pay after his arrest Sunday on suspicion of driving drunk.

Jorge Ibarra, 43, of San Juan, refused to take a Breathalyzer test after state troopers he was involved in a wreck just before 3 a.m. near the intersection of North Alamo and East Minnesota roads, north of Alamo.

Ibarra reportedly ran off the road and hit a fence, causing minor property damage, said Trooper Johnny Hernandez, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. The officer did not hurt himself or anyone else.

He will remain on leave until the conclusion of the criminal charges against him, said McAllen police Chief Victor Rodriguez. Internal investigators have also opened their own probe into Ibarra’s alleged conduct.

Ibarra, a 12-year veteran of the department, was released from the Hidalgo County Jail on a $500 bond shortly after his arrest.

If convicted, he could face up to six months in the county jail, termination from the police force and $2,000 in fines.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.

October 4, 2009

Survivor mourns sisters’ deaths after expressway rollover

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Johnathan Ball @ 8:01 pm

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October 03, 2009 2:15 PM
Jared Taylor
The Monitor

PHARR — The two vehicles paced each other as they headed north along Expressway 281 just before dusk Monday.

Esther Hernandez rode in the front passenger seat while her twin sister, Mary, was behind the wheel. Their brother, Raul, and their kid sister, April, sat in the back. The family was headed to Esther’s apartment in Edinburg.

But suddenly, Esther told her sister to watch out for the red Chevrolet that crossed into their lane. Mary swerved to the right, then left, then right again before losing control of the white Ford Explorer.

“We just started flipping,” the 20-year-old Esther said Thursday afternoon. “It was just so fast — up and down, up and down — until we landed.”

Raul called out for Esther. And Esther screamed for her twin sister.

“She wouldn’t answer,” Esther said. “There was blood on the street. I saw my baby sister in the middle of the expressway.”

Esther crawled out of the mangled SUV and ran to check on April.

Other motorists stopped to help them. The fifth-grader was able to nod and wiggle her fingers, they told Esther. The little girl seemed OK.

But the driver of the red Chevrolet was nowhere to be seen, Esther said.

Pharr police said Mary died on impact. April was not OK after all and succumbed to her injuries as an ambulance took her to McAllen Medical Center.

“I don’t know what she was doing,” Esther said of the other driver. “She left. She didn’t stop.”

Esther and her 16-year-old brother came out of the crash with relatively minor scrapes and bruises.

The past week has been a bloody one on Hidalgo County roads. In addition to the Hernandez sisters, three others have died in auto wrecks, including a father and daughter killed Friday and a woman who was killed in a head-on collision on Sept. 26.

The worst can happen when drivers are careless on the highway, said Trooper Johnny Hernandez, a local spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“It’s people not paying attention,” he said of the driver who left the scene of the crash that killed the two sisters. “They’re not paying attention to their destination. They’re not paying attention to their driving.”

The driver of the red Chevrolet car that presumably caused Monday’s wreck turned herself in at the Pharr Police Department late Tuesday evening, investigators said. Police have withheld her identity and continue to investigate the crash.

“She admitted that she was the (driver of the other) vehicle, because she was there,” Lt. Guadalupe Salinas, a Pharr police spokesman, said last week.

Whether she will face any charges and what they may be remain to be seen.

“I would want at least for the cops to do something,” Esther said. “She caused the accident. Why would she run and not try helping us? It was her fault.”

Authorities regularly cite drivers for reckless driving and other traffic violations that could otherwise result in what occurred along the expressway at the Nolana exit Monday, Hernandez said. Drivers cited for reckless driving typically say they weren’t paying attention.

“We get distracted with our cell phone, with our radio, eating, whatever,” Hernandez said. “It’s something where these distractions need to be avoided.”

On Thursday, the family of the two dead sisters greeted hundreds of mourners who gathered to pay their last respects at an open-casket wake.

Esther described her twin as “always friendly” and “a friend to everyone.” April, their younger sister, was “super strong” and a proficient student.

“She hadn’t even experienced anything,” Esther said.

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.

June 1, 2009

Major accident on expressway in Mission, Texas

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Johnathan Ball @ 4:10 pm

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June 1, 2009 – 4:40 PM

MISSION — A major accident involving at least one vehicle is slowing westbound traffic along Expressway 83 in Mission, police said.

The accident occurred about 4:30 p.m. Monday along westbound Expressway 83 near the Holland Avenue exit, Mission police Sgt. Jody Tittle said.

Tittle said at least one person is injured. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and seek alternate routes.

May 10, 2009

FDA Requests Boxed Warning for Contrast Agents Used to Improve MRI Images

Filed under: McAllen Texas Divorce Lawyer — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Johnathan Ball @ 4:41 pm

FDA News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

P07-90

May 23, 2007

Media Inquiries:

Karen Riley, 301-827-6242

Consumer Inquiries:

888-INFO-FDA

FDA Requests Boxed Warning for Contrast Agents Used to Improve MRI Images

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked manufacturers to include a new boxed warning on the product labeling of all

gadolinium-based contrast agents which are used to enhance the quality of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The requested warning would state that patients with severe kidney insufficiency who receive gadolinium-based agents are at risk for developing

a debilitating, and a potentially fatal disease known as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). In addition, it would state that patients just before or

just after liver transplantation, or those with chronic liver disease, are also at risk for developing NSF if they are experiencing kidney insufficiency

of any severity.

“FDA has been carefully monitoring potential safety signals related to these contrast agents after receiving reports about the risk of this

potentially life-threatening disease,” said Steven Galson, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “This latest

action demonstrates FDA’s continuing vigilance about ensuring the safety of drug products once they enter the marketplace.”

Patients with NSF develop thickening of the skin and connective tissues that inhibits their ability to move and may result in broken bones. Other

organs are at risk of thickening as well. The cause of NSF is not known and there is no consistently effective treatment of this condition.

FDA first notified health care professionals and the public about the gadolinium-related risks for NSF in June 2006 . Information on the risks was

updated in December.

Gadolinium-based contrast agents are commonly used to improve the visibility of internal structures when patients undergo an MRI. Five

gadolinium-based contrast agents have been approved for use in the United States: Magnevist (gadopentetate dimeglumine), Ominiscan

(gadodiamide); OptiMARK (gadoversetamide); MultiHance;(gadobenate dimeglumine);and Prohance (gadoteridol).

Reports have identified the development of NSF following single and multiple administrations of the gadolinium-based contrast agents. The

reports have not always identified a specific agent. Omniscan was the most commonly reported agent, when a specific agent was identified,

followed by Magnevist and OptiMARK.

NSF also has developed after the sequential administration of Omniscan and MultiHance and Omniscan and ProHance. Because reports

incompletely describe exposure to gadolinium-based contrast agents, it is not possible to know if the extent of risks for developing NSF is the

same for all agents.

Patients should be screened for kidney problems prior to receiving one of these imaging agents. The recommended dose should not be

exceeded and enough time should elapse to ensure that a dose has been eliminated from the body before the agent is used again.

There have been no reports of NSF among patients with normal kidney function or those with mild-to-moderate kidney insufficiency.

Bayer Schering Pharma, Berlin, Germany, manufactures Magnevist; GE Healthcare, Chalfont St. Giles, U.K., is the maker of Omniscan;

OptiMARK is manufactured by Mallinckrodt, Inc., Hazelwood, Mo.; and ProHance and Multihance are made by Bracco Diagnostics Inc.,

Princeton, N.J

Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant sued for wrongful death

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Johnathan Ball @ 4:34 pm

Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant sued for wrongful death

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

The mother of a victim in a car accident has sued a Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar in Texas for wrongful death and negligence.

Ercilia Norrid, whose 18-year-old daughter Adreanna was killed, claimed in the lawsuit that employees of the bar served Michael Nason too many drinks on the night of October 14. After leaving the bar, Nason was driving south in the northbound lane near Electra, Texas, in a pickup truck when he had a head-on collision with a car that contained Norrid and 16-year-old Courtney Mengwasser. His blood alcohol level was 0.27. The driver of the car, Alyssa Willeford, was critically injured and Nason, Mengwasser and Norrid were all killed.

The lawsuit, which names Wingsport, the company that manages the Buffalo Wild Wings in Wichita Falls, Texas, asks for $7 million and other damages.

Michael Burton, president of Wingsport, said in a statement, “We just want to say that our hearts and prayers go out to each family member and friend impacted by this tragedy. We cannot comment on the lawsuit other than to say we have cooperated fully with the TABCs investigation, and are confident the facts will show Buffalo Wild Wings should not have been named in the lawsuit.”

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) is a St. Louis Park-based restaurant chain with 439 restaurants in 37 states.

Commercial Bus Accident

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Johnathan Ball @ 4:27 pm
NTSB: Bus that crashed killing 9 was speeding

By JOAN LOWY – Apr 21, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Safety investigators said Tuesday that a bus was traveling 88 to 92 miles per hour when it crashed last year in Utah, killing nine and injuring 43 others. Driver fatigue was likely the root cause of the crash, they said.

Investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board that the bus driver, Welland Lotan, who was 71 at the time, suffered from sleep apnea, but used a device to regulate his breathing while sleeping.

Lotan also reported having head congestion for three days prior to the accident, which was probably the result of altitude sickness or a cold and which likely interfered with his sleep, investigators said.

“It’s really tragic — tragic in loss of life, tragic in the injuries people suffered and tragic because, in my judgment, this accident was preventable,” board member Kitty Higgins said.

The motorcoach was carrying 52 passengers returning to Phoenix from a ski vacation in Telluride, Colo., on Jan. 6, 2008 when it rounded a bend on a remote two-lane highway near the town of Mexican Hat, careened off the side of the road and rolled down an embankment.

Investigators said it is likely the driver’s fatigue caused him to misjudge the bus’ speed. The speed limit on that stretch of highway was 65 mph.

The bus was part of a charter of 17 motorcoaches carrying 800 people. Lotan had risen at 6:45 a.m. MST that morning and told passengers and others that he was fatigued and had been feeling sick for three days, investigators said. He had effectively been working since 10 a.m., when he attended drivers’ meeting and then helped put chains on tires and refuel buses, they said.

When the accident occurred at 8:02 p.m., Lotan had been driving nearly five hours. Federal regulators limit commercial drivers to a maximum 15 hours on duty and 10 hours actual driving.

Investigators were able to determine the speed using video from cameras installed on the bus. Audio equipment on the bus also recorded a passenger yelling “slow down” to the driver.

The roof of the motorcoach was sheared off in the accident and everyone was thrown out except Lotan, who was wearing the only seatbelt on the bus, and one passenger, whose leg got stuck.

The board recommended a decade ago that safety standards for motorcoach roofs be strengthened. Other motorcoach recommendations that have lingered on the board’s “most wanted” list of safety recommendations include protections for occupants in rollovers and easy to open bus windows.

Teresa and Maurice Washington of Peoria, Ariz., who were sitting in the last row of bus, lost their 12-year-old son in the accident. The couple were also seriously injured.

“I’m still kicking myself for getting on a bus with no seatbelts,” said Maurice Washington, 45, who attended Tuesday’s hearing with his wife.

Legislation to toughen motorcoach safety standards — including a requirement for seatbelts — died in Congress last year, but another bill has been introduced this year.

Board member Debbie Hersman said the bus crash was the third accident the board has reviewed in the past year in which the operator suffered from sleep apnea. She said the other two were a marine and an aviation accident.

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