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Woman Cleared In Fatal Car Wreck After GM Letter

A Texas judge cleared a woman Monday for a car accident that killed her fiance in 2004, after General Motors acknowledged that her car would have been among millions being recalled for a problem that may have contributed to the death. Candice Anderson was driving a 2004 Saturn Ion when it suddenly veered off a road about 60 miles east of Dallas and slammed into a tree. Anderson, then 21, was severely injured when the car's air bags failed to deploy. Her 25-year-old fiance, Gene Erikson, who was a passenger, was killed. She later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the wreck. But during a hearing Monday, State District Judge Teresa Drum expunged the conviction from her record, according to officials in the Van Zandt County court andAnderson's attorney, Bob Hilliard. In a letter given to the court ahead of the hearing, an attorney for the automaker confirmed that Anderson's Saturn would have been among 2.6 million GM vehicles recalled in February to address ignition switches that can slip out of the "run" position, causing the engines to stall and disabling power steering, brakes and air bags. Anderson's crash "is one in which the recall condition may have caused or contributed to the frontal air bag non-deployment in the accident," attorney Richard C. Godfrey wrote. Hilliard provided a copy of the letter to The Associated Press, and Godfrey confirmed its contents Monday. Anderson was initially charged with criminally negligent homicide because there was no clear explanation at the time why the wreck occurred, according to court documents from the case. She pleaded guilty to a letter charge in 2006, and was sentenced to five years' probation. She also was ordered to perform 260 hours of community service, pay court costs and cover the costs of Erikson's funeral. "GM knew this defect caused this death, yet instead of telling the truth watched silently as Candice was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter," Hilliard said Monday. "It took 10 years for GM to find its voice." In a separate statement issued by the company, GM said it "cooperated fully by providing technical information that was requested to make a decision in this matter." The carmaker also said the issue in Anderson's case was for local law enforcement and courts to consider. "That's why we took a neutral position on Ms. Anderson's case," the company's statement said. "It was appropriate for the court to determine the legal status of Ms.

Car thief lands Saturn on Fresno roof

Residents of a Fresno, California apartment building recently awoke to debris falling from their ceiling after a car thief managed to execute a perfect parking job on the structure's roof. Police say 26-year-old Benjamin Tucker stole the Saturn sedan from a nearby house before striking either a curb or some rocks, vaulting the vehicle into the air and onto the roof. After seeing his predicament, Tucker leapt from the roof and fled the scene. Or at least he tried to. Tucker broke his leg in the fall and only made it around a quarter of a mile from the crash when police picked him up.
No one else was harmed in the stunt.
Tucker had two outstanding warrants for his arrest at the time for a hit-and-run and evading police. A special crane had to be called in to remove the Saturn from the apartment roof and the structure will indeed require repairs. Hit the jump for a news report on the incident.

A chopped-up General Motors EV1 shell sold for $23,662

Despite not having a VIN, a powertrain, a frame, or any doors, a decrepit General Motors EV1 shell recently sold for $23,662.10 on govdeals.com. Sold by the University of Cincinnati, the car — or what remains of it — is headed to an electric vehicle collection called The Beata Electric Motor Carriage Collection. Technically, the GM EV1 was the first mass-produced and purposed-built electric car in America. When it was released in 1996 for the 1997 model year, however, GM strictly leased the car as part of a "real-world engineering evaluation." The limited production run was meant to test real life with an EV and judge the interest from the public. GM only built 1,117 units, all of which were recalled, and most of them ultimately were sent to the crusher. But a select few were stripped of their powertrains and donated to universities and museums for educational purposes. One of those non-functioning cars made it to the University of Cincinnati in 2008. The post says it "has been in storage since," but it's not clear if the car sat in storage untouched or was stored and used by the university. According to EpiclyEpicEthan1, who posted the sales listing to r/cars, the car was purchased by The Beata Electric Motor Carriage Collection in Colorado. The Beata (derived from the Latin word for blessed) collection is a gathering of '90s OEM electric vehicles and a general EV hub. The website says the vehicles are used for testing, diagnostics, education, events, and overall preservation and documentation. The rare and niche collection also includes a 1993 Dodge/Chrysler TEVan, a 1997 Honda EV Plus, a 1999 Dodge/Chrysler EPIC EV, a 1998 Ford Ranger EV, a 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV LongRanger III, a Tesla Roadster, a 1998 Nissan Altra EV, a 1998 Chevrolet S-10 EV, a 2011 Nissan Leaf, and a 2012 Tesla Model S. Beata also has several other projects under construction such as the 2000 Toyota RXT-G Prototype, a 1997 RAV4 coupe EV prototype, the 1995 AC Propulsion eCivic EV, a 1995 ACP RXT-G Prototype LongRanger II, a 1995 ACP RXT-G Prototype LongRanger I, and a GM EV1. Beata acts as a resource for EV1 owners and helps place parts it finds and doesn't need. The parts it does need are put into building a working EV1. Beata's current EV1, which is 80 percent complete, is made up from more than 50 different parts sources, including from all three versions of the EV1, the 1994 LPF4 PreView "Impact" series, the 1997 EV1, and the 1999 EV1.