Family of Los Angeles Crash Victims Are Outraged After Website Supporting Nurse Who Killed Six People Is Created
The family of a young family killed when traveling nurse Nicole Linton slammed her Mercedes-Benz into their car are speaking out against a website made by her family broadcasting the driver’s mental illness and asking for lighter charges.
According to court documents, prosecutors say Linton “floored the gas pedal for at least the 5 seconds leading into the crash, going from 122 mph to 130 mph” before going into traffic in an intersection in the Los Angeles suburb of Windsor Hills, which caused two other cars to explode. Asherey Ryan and her boyfriend Armani Lester were on their way to a doctor’s appointment. The family, including an unborn baby and two other women, were killed.
Linton’s family created a website earlier this month which included her life story, journey with mental illness, and how it connects to the crash. The website has several photos of Nicole and her family one of the pages outlines the difference between murder and vehicular manslaughter. Linton is currently awaiting trial for murder and gross vehicular manslaughter. Linton’s lawyer and family allege she was in the middle of a bipolar episode when she ran through the light.
Ryan, Lester and Quintero’s family members claim the website is “insensitive and ill-timed.”
“We’re still struggling to grasp the magnitude of our loss. Every day has been emotionally hard. The hurt we’ve had to endure from the website seems quite intentional and we strongly oppose it,” Deandra Kittles said in a statement. “We will continue to get through this trying time as a family, and we will continue to seek Justice for Asherey, Armani and Alonzo. We hope that the other families affected will do the same.”
The website was created by Nicole’s sister Camille Linton features a letter to “all those affected” on the landing page. Camille said the Aug. 4 crash was a “tragedy all-around.” She sent her “deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one” and acknowledged their pain.
“And even though we as a family have been steadfastly supporting Nicole, who we love dearly, there is room in our hearts for the victims that have been most directly affected in this case,” Camille wrote.
Camille wrote on the website she understands the victims’ families are “rightfully angry, frustrated, and fearful.” However, she can relate to families like hers who are also fearful and hopeless because of a family member’s mental illness.
Nicole’s defense attorney claims that she had “an “apparent lapse of consciousness” at the time of the crash. Prosecutors believe that the act was deliberate, and Nicole had control of the steering wheel, which she held steady as she flew through the intersection.
Camille said she learned that her sister went into a catatonic state after her first erratic outburst that started to an encounter with police in Texas.
“Suddenly, it was as if the lights went off and she’s there but it appeared as if she couldn’t hear or interact with anybody around her,” the driver’s sister wrote. “The doctor that is currently evaluating her believes that these symptoms may indicate frontal lobe epilepsy, which often lasts around 30 seconds and can cause stiffness in the body and loss of awareness. It is usually followed by amnesia where the person doesn’t remember blacking out.”
Nicole’s family hopes the court will allow her to be tested for neurological and psychiatric conditions.
“This particular type of epilepsy is oftentimes missed by doctors because many of the symptoms can also indicate psychiatric problems. If she does have a neurological condition on top of or instead of her bipolar disorder, we want to be able to test for it so she can be treated appropriately and so we can better understand what happened on August 4th,” Camille wrote.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti independent on January 1, 1804