New information about the fiery car crash in Los Angeles that killed six people, including a pregnant mother, her 1-year-old son, and her boyfriend, has surfaced. Details from new documents filed reveal Nicole Linton, the driver responsible, allegedly accelerated her vehicle to 130 mph at the time of the deadly crash, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The recent court documents allege that Linton, a traveling nurse from Houston, was “in conscious and deliberate in her driving.” Court docs also note that the former nurse, who was driving more than 40 mph faster than the speed authorities originally speculated, “deliberately” stepped on the gas for at least five seconds before barreling into the busy Windsor Hills intersection on Aug. 4.
“Further analysis reveals that her speed at impact was 130 mph and that she floored the gas pedal for at least the 5 seconds leading into the crash, going from 122 mph to 130 mph,” a motion filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office stated, Meaww reports.
In addition, legal documents acquired by the Times also state that Linton had been in “complete control over steering, maintaining the tilt of the steering wheel to keep her car traveling directly toward the crowded intersection.” Linton’s driving was further described as a “NASCAR-worthy performance.”
The documents argue that the speed at which the former nurse was driving debunks the theory that “she was unconscious or incapacitated.”
News of Linton’s speed and consciousness comes after her attorneys argued that her mental state prior to the crash was questionable, noting her history of mental health issues, the Times reports.
“She has no recollection of the events that led to her collision,” Dr. William Winter, who treated Linton at the hospital where she went after the crash, wrote in a filing, according to the Times. “The next thing she recalled was lying on the pavement and seeing that her car was on fire.”
Winter described that Linton experienced an “apparent lapse of consciousness” before the crash.
Linton’s family has also confirmed that she experienced mental health issues. They said they first noticed these issues in 2018 when she was studying nursing at the University of Texas in Houston. Her sister Camille Linton said that her rigorous studies triggered her first mental breakdown.
“The stress was too much for her and it ‘broke’ her,” she wrote, according to the Times. “Thus beginning the journey of Nicole’s 4-year struggle with mental illness.”
Linton allegedly has had several mental breakdowns since then. That same year, Linton was diagnosed as bipolar and was prescribed medication. As Blavity previously reported, Linton has also harmed herself and was involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment multiple times before the crash.
On the day of the tragic crash, People reports that Linton left her job at the hospital during her lunch break and FaceTimed her sister while naked. She briefly returned to work and then left again.
According to Meaww, Linton walked away from the crash with non-life-threatening injuries. She was arrested after being discharged from the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She told CHP officers in an interview that she had not slept for four days leading up to the incident, the Times reports.
The nurse was charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in connection with the crash. A judge has denied Linton’s request for bail, and according to the New York Post, a motion to release her from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles to seek treatment at a psychiatric hospital has also been denied. Linton’s legal team seeks to ask a different judge at another hearing to sign an order allowing her to be moved to a county hospital for mental health testing and then transferred back to Twin Towers Correctional.
Linton is facing 90 years or life imprisonment if found guilty of her charges.
