Did Laptop Use Cause Fatal Crash?
Investigators are trying to determine whether a 29-year-old computer tutor who died in a California highway car collision might have been using his laptop while driving just moments before drifting into an oncoming Hummer. The victim, Oscar Hinojosa of Chico, Calif., was killed in the crash, which occurred at 8:30 a.m. Monday on Highway 99 near Yuba City, according to the California Highway Patrol. After the crash, investigators discovered that the man’s laptop was still on and plugged into the cigarette lighter. The screen was cracked, and the laptop was found resting on the right front floorboard, said CHP spokesman Sgt. John Pettigrew. Hinojosa’s 1991 Honda Accord collided with a 2003 Hummer. The occupants of that vehicle, both age 39, were taken to a nearby hospital and treated for minor injuries, he said. The Honda drifted into the oncoming lane, and both vehicles were destroyed in the resulting head-on collision. “We are still investigating whether he was using the computer or no
