Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
Back in mid-January, The Injury Blog detailed how a California woman died hours after ingesting huge amounts of water during a radio station contest to win a Nintendo Wii, and here’s the latest developments in this tragic case. The Sacramento County district attorney’s office announced on Monday that no criminal charges will be filed against radio station 107.9 The End or any of its employees. A KCRA.com story said that the family of the deceased victim, Jennifer Strange, filed a wrongful death complaint seeking punitive, emotional and economic damages with the Sacramento County Superior Court in late January.
28-year-old Jennifer Strange died January 12th hours after drinking nearly two gallons of water during a morning radio contest for the Nintendo Wii video game system. Strange did not win the contest and was found dead later that day in her Rancho Cordova home. A preliminary coroner’s report detailed symptoms of water intoxication, and the Sacramento County district attorney’s office shortly began to investigate whether possible criminal charges could be filed in this case.
While listeners to the morning program actually called the radio station saying that people could die from this stunt. District Attorney Jan Scully said the facts and circumstances of this event do not support the filing of an involuntary manslaughter charge. Scully added that Jennifer Strange was an adult who voluntarily participated in the contest, knew what it was about, and could have stopped or discontinued her participation at any time.
Scully further said that there were no observable indications or symptoms that Strange required serious medical attention at the time. The district attorney’s office found that DJs interviewed Strange on the air without any difficulties. If such an emergency was observably present, the statement from the district attorney’s office indicated that the station employees would have been required to seek or provide medical aid to her. The attorney for Strange’s family, Roger Dreyer, said he was not surprised by the district attorney’s decision to not file criminal charges.
