Posted on 07/18/2023 7:31:22 AM PDT by Red Badger
A 27-year-old homeless woman was killed recently when a lawnmower ran over her while she was sleeping in a park in Modesto, California.
Christine Chavez was killed in Beard Brook Park on July 8, according to KXTV-TV.
“My mom had to pick up pieces of her. That’s not correct,” Randy Chavez, the victim’s brother, said, according to the Modesto Bee.
“We want ordinances to change so it doesn’t happen again. Regardless if they are homeless they are still people and should be treated the same as any other people,” he said.
The park had been public, and at one time was an authorized area for homeless people to sleep. It is now private land owned by the E.&J. Gallo Winery in a deal that was completed the day before Chavez was killed.
Gallo representative Krista Noonan said the winery hired a contractor “to perform weed abatement and fire prevention services.”
The statement described Chavez’s death as “an accident at approximately 12:00 p.m. involving the contractor’s tractor and an individual who was not visible and laying in a tall, weeded area.”
Sharon Bear, a representative of the Modesto Police Department, said a Grover Landscape Services employee was using a riding John Deere tractor with a pull-behind mower when the incident took place, according to KXTV.
The company issued a statement that said, “In a dry, overgrown area, our operator discovered the body of a woman impacted by the pull-behind mower.”
Dez Martinez, an advocate for the homeless who founded the group CEO & We Are Not Invisible said last week during a memorial service for Chavez that she was disgusted by what had taken place, saying that five days after Chavez was killed, the area was “still not cordoned off. It’s not taped off. There’s no one here to pick up the remaining parts that are still here.”
Martinez said homeless people sleep at high noon because it is safe.
“We have to stay up all night because it’s dangerous to sleep at night. You might be raped, stabbed, murdered,” she said. “When the daytime comes, it’s time to go to sleep, it’s broad daylight, there’s a lot of traffic, a lot of people, what’s going to happen to me?”
Christopher Chavez was angry over the way his daughter’s death has been treated, according to KYMA-TV.
“I know that, if you are driving a tractor, you can see even if…the small ropes. You see, I mean…one person. You will see one person in front of you,” Chavez said.
“I keep going because I need to. I, I, I’m looking for justice, and I’m going to, I’m going to be there until, until something happens.” Chavez added.
Martinez said the victim deserves to be remembered as a person, not an object, according to KCRA-TV.
“Just because people are unhoused, it doesn’t mean they don’t have family. It doesn’t mean they’re not somebody’s daughter or son,” Martinez said.
“She was a beautiful girl, beautiful young girl. She had a family that loved her, and, and, and for the trauma that they’re going to have to endure for the rest of their lives, this is, this is visions they will never get out of their head,” Martinez added, according to KYMA.
I’m just curious as to just how stoned one has to be to not hear the tractor? Okay, if passed out, unconscious yes, most likely didn’t hear it. Passed out in the high grass, most likely not seen.
BUT if someone is doing drugs to the point they are OUT COLD, out in open in a park, then sorry, wrong spot at the wrong time.
Some people choose to be homeless. I knew a couple of men and one woman who lived that way on purpose.
And why was she sleeping in the weeds, if she was so loved?
This is a tragedy. Let’s not get lost in the weeds. Sad episodes like this are enough to leave you in pieces.
I consider this negligent homicide since no attempt was made to insure it was safe to mow. That is negligence by the operator.
I was cutting some very tall grass and ran over a lot of rabbit nests and only saw them on my second pass. It was disturbing to me and I hunt.
We always checked for fire ant mounds before mowing.
Well, as more facts come out, we will see if indeed he is negligent. Maybe he did follow safety protocols, we just don’t know yet.
Maybe she was laying there, covered in trash and the place was filled with trash and he didn’t see a body there. We just don’t know. It seems premature to charge him with homicide.
exactly, this is just a BS attempt to get some $$$
the woman was almost certainly a drug addict and may have been already dead when the mower hit her.
It all depends on how the state's laws work. There was a somewhat similar case near my office some years ago. It was an untimely accidental death of a young woman who could be described as marginal at best. In that case, the family couldn’t even get a lawyer to represent them in a lawsuit. Every lawyer told them the same story:
1. Compensatory damages for a sudden death are usually limited to loss of future earnings and “loss of affection.” There is no compensatory claim to be made for “pain and suffering” when the death is sudden.
2. When the victim is an adult, adult relatives other than a spouse often have a hard time establishing their legal standing to pursue a claim.
3. The “loss of future income” is negligible at best when you’re dealing with a homeless person.
4. Any surviving children of the victim have the strongest legal grounds to pursue a claim, but their standing may be compromised if they were already in the legal custody of other family members when the death occurred. Basically, the legal arguments the family made previously in family court to get custody of the children — namely, that the birth parent was a broke, crazy, homeless mental case — make it harder for anyone to claim they’ve actually suffered any damages as a result of the person’s demise.
People, cut out the joke comments, let the poor girl rest in piece!
I’m behaving like a real grAsshole.
All true, but many authorities are lawsuit adverse and will settle claims such as this for high dollars. It’s taxpayer money not theirs.
Mowed down in the prime of her life?
A JD 318 is a lawn mower, NOT a tractor.
I have been bush hogging for more than 30 years and have never “walked an area” I was going to bush hog. That is a good way to double your mower time (un billable time) and find every copperhead and rattle snake on the property. I know they are there because I find their pieces when I pass through a area.
I normally use a 50 or 100 hp tractor, not a dinky yard tractor, unless I am mowing a yard.
Not necessarily. As a former PW Director, we had a 18ft wide reel mower and the path of the tractor was 9 feet wide and each pass was offset by 9 feet.
She had a family that loved her... why was she not staying with them? They certainly didn't seem to give a rat's red behind about her until they could get 15 minutes of fame. A woman that looks like that ain't homeless unless there are drugs or severe mental illness, or both involved. Yes, she was a human being and deserved to be treated as such. Which really makes me wonder why she was on the streets and not living with "loving" family.
Nailed it!
“We want ordinances to change so it doesn’t happen again.”
Every heard of “No Trespassing?”
The park had been public. It is now private land.
Here's looking at you, Laz.
The mow the merrier, eh?
Gallo representative Krista Noonan said the winery hired a contractor...
And this is what happens when people don't know the ropes.
Worse, would could even offer an Ernest RIP in this situation without being shredded for making a pun.
We simply don't know the circumstances for why Christine was in the grass.
If only she had stayed in a garage.
There but for the grass of God go I.
Gallo humor. It's just how folks must process so mulch sodness in the world.
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