KPBS recently featured the ongoing efforts of the plaintiffs in a personal injury lawsuit led by Domenic Martini, Counsel at Singleton Schreiber.
In their article, "Parents Push Encinitas to Act After Daughter’s Crosswalk Death," published on August 21st, KPBS covered John and Bridget Chalekian's urging to the City of Encinitas to declare an emergency for street safety improvements after their 12-year-old daughter, Emery Chalekian, was killed on April 25 after crossing Encinitas Boulevard in a marked crosswalk.
Mr. Chalekian, advocating for an emergency declaration to access state funds for safety enhancements, the importance in raising awareness for pedestrian safety, and launching their grassroots campaign saferstreetsencinitas.org said:
"My body and my soul left, separated. want to talk about the action, which is just demonstrate we don't have a kids-versus-car community. Please, because that's what it is right now.
A bicyclist and my daughter were both killed within a quarter of a mile of one another on that strip of Encinitas Boulevard. That quarter of a mile of Encinitas Boulevard — it's taken more lives this year and has put us over the San Diego County annual average for 100,000 deaths.
Put yourselves in our position, experience what we're experiencing, understand that our primary objective is for the safety of our community and the children in this community."
KPBS notes that the City Council previously voted in June to place the emergency declaration on the agenda for its next meeting after the July recess, but it has yet to be added. The City affirmed its commitment to street safety efforts in a statement, though refused to comment on the tort claim, stating that it "cannot comment on the pending claim and threat of litigation."
The article closes by noting that the San Diego County Sheriff's Office has confirmed an ongoing investigation into the fatal April crash.
