Our Promise to Remember the Victims

A story in the Oakland Tribune reiterates a fact our Northern California personal injury law firm knows all too well – reckless driving kills. We talk a lot about statistics and laws in this blog, but this article focuses on a very important point, that every accident impacts real individuals and tragedies often are felt throughout the community.

On April 7, forty-one year old Solaiman Nuri and his daughters, Hadees (age nine) and Hannah (age twelve), went on a Saturday morning bike ride. At the same time, David Rosen, then seventeen, was speeding along Treat Boulevard in Concord in a 2002 Cadillac Escalade. According to investigators, the teen was travelling 72mph in a 45mph zone. Rosen swerved to avoid a collision with another car and jumped the curb, killing both Solomon and Hadees. Hannah suffered minor injuries.

This Wednesday, Rosen pled guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and unlawful acts as well as one count of misdemeanor reckless driving causing injury. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed unrelated alcohol and knife possession charges. Despite a request from Stoorai Nuri, the wife and mother of the victims, the court tried Rosen as a juvenile and officials took him to juvenile hall after the hearing. Sentencing will be on October 22. Judge Lois Haight suggested she could sentence Rosen to seven years, eight months but a prosecutor noted that the state will be legally bound to release him at age twenty-one. Ms. Nuri said the teen failed to apologize on the day he was arrested and denied Rosen’s request to make an apology in the courtroom, with her attorney asking the defendant to wait until sentencing to speak further.

Some of those involved with the case have suggested that courts are too lax when it comes to punishing reckless drivers. Head juvenile prosecutor Dan Cabral said that an adult facing the same charges may not have served any prison time. He said that he’s seen adults face less than a year for similar crimes, with most or all of the time being served via home detention and electronic monitoring.

The night prior to Rosen’s hearing, the Nuri family and a crowd of supporters attended the unveiling of a park bench honoring Solaiman and Hadessa. The bench will be placed in Ygancia Valley park, a meaningful location because the father served as a soccer coach for both of his daughters. Speakers at the event ranged from the principal of the girls’ Woodside Elementary School to children from the soccer teams and fellow Girl Scouts. Members of the soccer team wore tee-shirts with an image of the two deceased victims to support the grieving family, including daughter Hannah. Emal Karzai, Ms. Nuri’s brother, spoke and promised to continue to share the memories of both victims. He also said the family will work to raise awareness about unsafe driving and pressure lawmakers in Sacramento to pass laws creating harsher punishments for drivers who kill.

Our team works to get compensation for victims of reckless driving in Oakland, San Francisco, and throughout the Northern California region. We pledge to fight for every client who trusts us with their case. We promise to remember that every victim is a person and every loss reverberates through the family and the community. We have clients and we work with people, not just case numbers.