New court filings show Nicole Linton, the intensive care nurse accused of killing half a dozen people in a car crash in Los Angeles, was driving over 100 miles per hour before she collided with two other cars at a busy intersection.
The documents are part of a motion filed by Los Angeles County prosecutors in response to Linton’s request to release her on bond. The nurse’s attorneys argued that she had an “apparent lapse of consciousness” when she ran through a red light on Aug. 4.
Early reports show Linton was driving 90 mph, however, “further analysis reveals that her speed at impact was in fact 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,” prosecutors wrote.
Video footage of the incident shows Linton smashing into the vehicles before they burst into flames. Reports indicate there were 10 vehicles in the intersection. She split “one of the cars in two,” court documents show.
Nathesia Lewis and her best friend, Lynette Noble, Asherey Ryan, her 11-month-old son, Alonzo Quintero, and her boyfriend, Reynold Lester, were killed, along with the couple’s unborn baby. Another vehicle spun out of control and caused multiple minor crashes, reports show.
The new information was uncovered from Linton’s Mercedes-Benz’s data recorder. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has asked a judge to keep Linton in jail until the trial.
They argue that the crash was deliberate and it would be inappropriate and dangerous for the public if Linton were released. Prosecutors compare the nurse’s driving to a professional race driver, adding that the car data shows Linton had complete control of the steering wheel and held it steady as she sped toward the intersection.
“This NASCAR-worthy performance flies in the face of the notion that she was unconscious or incapacitated,” according to the filing.
Linton’s attorneys argued she had battled with bipolar disorder for four years and was in the middle of a mental health episode when she barreled through the light that was red for nine seconds. In addition, family members reported that she was acting strange hours, days and months leading up to the crash. Her attorneys also asked the judge to consider putting her in a psychiatric facility while she awaits trial.
“She has no recollection of the events that led to her collision,” wrote the doctor who treated Linton after the crash. However, the district attorney’s office said the medical records don’t show that the doctor found any signs that Linton experienced something that would have caused her to go unconscious.
Prosecutors said Linton knew that she was experiencing issues before the crash but purposely stopped taking her medication because she said she didn’t like how the prescription made her feel. They also confirmed that she exhibited strange behavior during her work shift before the crash. However, the defense has not filed evidence of her current medical diagnosis with the court.
“Defendant opined that the cause of her collision was her fatigue,” according to the filing. “In jail calls with her sister … days after, [Linton] acknowledged that she should not have gone to work on the day of the crash, stating, ‘five people are dead because of me.'”
Linton’s sister said in court documents that the nurse had called her during her lunch break from her home in the nude. She talked to her sister about flying to her hometown, Houston, to get married and said: “to meet her at the altar.”
While defense attorneys argued that Linton had only had three prior accidents since 2014, prosecutors said she had been ticketed for speeding and caused two other accidents in recent years.
Linton is facing six counts of murder, five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, and up to 90 years in prison.
