Dear Sirs…

TO:

Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States

James Orenstein, Hampden District Attorney C/O James Forsyth DDA

Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts

 

 

 

 

 

Be responsible as public servants, acknowledge the overwhelming evidence, and arrest the real criminals at Chrysler, US DOT, and NHTSA who were reckless and negligent in the gruesome homicide of an innocent teenager, Skyler Coughlin-Anderson!

In his indictment to the Massachusetts Grand Jury, Deputy District Attorney James Forsyth states, “Specifically, (Rafael Perez Jr. and Joel Nieves-Cruz), on or about November 10, 2013 having a legal duty of care, did engage in wanton and reckless conduct, and by such conduct did cause the death of Skyler Anderson-Coughlin in violation of General Laws chapter 265 section 13.”

It is extremely disturbing that not only are innocent people burning to death in Jeeps but other lives are being ruined when completely blamed for the deaths that occur when dangerous Jeeps catch on fire!

Those two guys might have lost an object from the back of their pickup that night causing subsequent vehicles to swerve but they had nothing to do with the defective design of the dangerous Jeep that caused the fire. Should they be held criminally and solely responsible for the horrific death of the innocent teenager, Skyler?

Overwhelming evidence submitted by Civil Justice Foundation winner and nationally recognized auto safety expert Paul Sheridan of DDM Consulting forwarded to The Center For Auto Safety on 08/20/2014: http://pvsheridan.com/Sheridan2Ditlow-3-20Aug2014.pdf as well as presented in many public documents by both Sheridan and The Center For Auto Safety, prove that there are others who are blatantly responsible for the reckless homicide of Skyler Anderson-Coughlin through their incompetent and criminal actions. As Mr. Sheridan states in his letter:

“A vast majority of the juries that have served in product liability cases involving Chrysler would opt for criminal charges if they were charged with that deliberation. Paraphrasing Senator Blumenthal, the long history of Chrysler and NHTSA provides more than enough evidence for ‘real exposure to criminal liability . . . and appropriate . . . prosecution.’”

We, the undersigned, respectfully demand that the following be charged in Skyler’s gruesome death:

1. Robert Lutz, Former Chrysler President and COO

Robert Lutz, two-time former GM executive was president and Chief Operating Officer in charge of the business development of the Jeep Grand Cherokee that killed young Skyler. His direct-report was Francois Castaing.2. Francois Castaing, Former General Manager over Jeep

In June 2011, in the Jeep-fire death litigation of Mrs. Susan Kline, Mr. Castaing admitted that Safety Expert Paul Sheridan had recommended an alternative design for the original Jeep Grand Cherokee. Castaing also admitted that he and others had rejected that recommendation.In the video of the deposition taken at 30800 Telegraph Road in Bingham Farms, Michigan, Mr. Castaing dances around the questions before finally stating, “The tow package does not protect the tank.” This quote can be found on page 233 lines 16, 17, and 18 of the transcript. You may view the written transcript by Bienenstock Nationwide Court Reporting in PDF at: http://pvsheridan.com/Castaing-14Jun11-Complete—.pdf

3. Robert Eaton, Chrysler Chairman and former executive at GM

Lutz and Castaing reported directly to Eaton during the time that the Jeep Grand Cherokee was sold to the public. He was chairman of Chrysler, and had authorized the use of criminal conspiracy to block dissemination of vital safety information to the American taxpayer. This is documented in the Paul Sheridan letter to the Department of Justice available here: http://pvsheridan.com/DOJ-NHTSA-ChryslerConspiracy-1.pdf But Eaton’s true and historic contribution to ensuring that competent safety standards are never enacted is summarized here: http://pvsheridan.com/Chrysler_Eaton_Attacks_Regulators.pdf4. John Elkann, Chairman Fiat
250 Via Nizza, Turin, Italy 10126

The Center for Auto Safety submitted evidence and formally asked Fiat CEO John Elkann five times to recall these dangerous Jeeps but never even received response.
Paul Sheridan placed Elkann on-notice about the Jeep that later killed young Skyler in his letter of March 5, 2013. Sheridan’s letter was hand-delivered delivered to Elkann’s address in Italy. See http://pvsheridan.com/Sheridan2Elkann-1-15Mar2013.pdf5. Sergio Marchionne, Chairman Chrysler Group, LLC
1000 Chrysler Drive Auburn Hills MI 48321-8004

The Center for Auto Safety submitted evidence and asked Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne five times to recall these dangerous Jeeps but never even received a response.6. David Strickland, Former Administrator NHTSA

a. Reference the letter sent by The Center For Auto Safety to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland with 34 pages proving the Jeep-fire data presented by Chrysler to be outright deceptive, if not fraudulent.
b. In a July 2013 meeting between safety advocates and David Strickland in Washington, DC, he confirmed his knowledge of the dangerous Jeeps by stating, “There are frankly a lot of people who aren’t with us at all from crashes that frankly as you know could’ve easily been walked away from.” (transcript of this meeting can be found at https://dangerousjeeps.com/transcript-july-1-2013-meeting-with-nhtsa/ )
c. On the day he announced the investigation of Jeeps would be closed, he also announced he accepted a position with Chrysler-supporting lobbying firm, Venable LLP.7. David J. Friedman, NHTSA Administrator
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

 David Friedman has been in charge at NHTSA throughout the entire Jeep recall stall that had yet to inform Skyler’s parents of the increased risk of fiery death faced while Skyler drove the Jeep.8. Ray LaHood, Former Secretary US Department of Transportation

a. Ray Lahood, over NHTSA, never consulted with the Petitioner (CAS) prior to cutting their closed-door recall deal with Chrysler in June 2013.
b. Ray Lahood, over NHTSA, announced satisfaction with the Chrysler decision to do a “customer service action,” insinuating that EA12-005 was not recall worthy, directly insinuating to Jeep owners, that they were never in any real danger – all the while knowing of Jeep occupants that were killed or horribly maimed due to this faulty design. Subsequently Ray Lahood, over NHTSA, never disclosed that this occurred with no prior crash testing to validate the alleged remedy while committing to the trailer hitch façade.
c. In full knowledge of a 13-year-old admission under Safety Recall Notice A-10, that a trailer hitch did not and could not remedy minor requirements of the Pinto-based FMVSS-310, NHTSA announced that they were “satisfied” with the Chrysler insinuation of a trailer hitch being the effective remedy.9. Anthony Foxx, Secretary of the US Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE Washington, DC 20590 202-366-4000

a. Anthony Foxx replaced Ray LaHood as Secretary subsequently overseeing the Jeep recall, or more correctly stated the lack thereof, but has done nothing in the face of continuing deaths.
b. Amazingly, while Anthony Foxx was still mayor, and prior to his installment as Secretary, he was placed on-notice about the Jeep that later killed young Skyler by Paul Sheridan in his letter of May 3 2013, http://pvsheridan.com/Sheridan2Foxx-1-3May2013.pdf
c. Anthony Foxx, over NHTSA, approved insufficient crash testing conducted from August 2013 to January 2014. Taxpayers funded this illogical testing unlike real world fire-injury and fire-death accidents, seemingly to bolster NHTSA’s PR. The obvious question is, “When did NHTSA become a crash testing agency for multibillion $$ companies instead of forcing them to fund their own crash testing and subsequent data.”In addition to the individuals above, I request one corporation to be charged in Skyler’s homicide:

10. Chrysler Group LLC
1000 Chrysler Drive, Auburn Hills MI 48321-8004, 248-576-5741

a. In August 1978, in preparation for meetings at high levels of Chrysler and Mitsubishi Motor Corporation, a memo was prepared to summarize the fuel system crashworthiness of their cars, trucks and SUVs. The “Baker memo,” highlighted the Ford Pinto fuel system defects. Mr. Baker specifically warned of the dangers of locating a fuel tank similar to the Ford Pinto: In the rearmost location, while not offering direct impact protection and no shielding from road projectiles.
b. David Dillon who orchestrates Chrysler’s responses to NHTSA in the rear-impact fuel-fed Jeep fire investigations was deposed on 12/21/2011. Chrysler had presented charts and graphs to the public to quiet any suspicions and to convince the public that the dangerous Jeeps are safe based on “million years of use.” In the deposition, Dillon was questioned extensively about some of these charts and graphs. One question: “So even though the Grand Cherokee had the second lowest amount of crashes per million years of use, it had the absolute highest crashes, rear impact fatalities with fire?” Dillon’s answer: “That’s correct.” A more clarifying exchange was: “If you look at the Grand Cherokee, you got less crashes for the Grand Cherokee per million years of use and more counts of rear fires than any other vehicle on that graph, correct?” His answer was, “That’s what’s reflected in this graph, yes.”
c. When asked in a 09/07/2012 deposition about what ensures the safety from fire of the faulty designed Jeeps, former Chrysler employee and fire causation expert, Robert Banta testified, “The tank’s on its own.”
d. Safety defect admissions by Chrysler are indistinguishable from GM (actually facing charges for hiding their product defects and not recalling such in a timely manner).
e. Countless numbers of Jeep-fire death cases have been settled with the plaintiff’s secrecy being required by Chrysler, when the details of these cases should actually be used by the automotive industry to prevent further fiery deaths. Subsequently, more recent Jeep-fire death cases have been diverted to local Chrysler dealerships under Chrysler’s bankruptcy deal with our federal government; thereby, making it next to impossible to track the harm done by these dangerous Jeeps.
f. Not a single Jeep-fire death has been reported in the models of Jeeps that have the fuel tank relocated to the mid-ship position.
g. Chrysler representatives have repeatedly recited to the public that victims have been burned and died in high-speed crashes so wouldn’t have survived regardless of fuel-tank placement but the facts are to the contrary as I witnessed this scenario myself in real life.
h. On Page 3 of the 1985 Chrysler Fuel Supply Systems Design Guidelines, Engineering emphasizes: “The (fuel) tank should be located in a manner that avoids known impact areas, and provides isolation from the passenger compartment.”
i. The list goes on and on!According to my research, Entity Liability also led to Skyler’s horrible death. “The concept of entity liability allows a corporation to be held liable for the criminal misdeeds of its agents if the agent is acting within the actual or apparent scope of their employment or authority and if the agents intend, at least in part, to some way benefit the corporation through their actions. The corporation can still be held liable for their agents’ criminal misdeeds or actions even if the agents’ actions are contrary to corporate policy or directly disregard express orders of the corporation. This rule was established in New York Central and Hudson River Railroad v. United States, 212 U.S. 481 (1909), where the court decided to extend the tort doctrine of respondeat superior to criminal cases, establishing a form of corporate criminal liability for actions of corporation’s agents.”  – Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute

I do not work in the field of law; however, according to Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute, “Reckless Homicide” is the killing of another person by acting recklessly with respect to the surrounding circumstances when the person is aware of, but consciously disregards, a substantial and unjustifiable risk, constituting a gross deviation from what an ordinary person would do under the same circumstances. I believe these aforementioned gentlemen are guilty of the Reckless Homicide of Skyler Justice Anderson-Coughlin. However, I believe prosecutors like a “sure thing” and as such, something even easier to prosecute seems to be Criminally Negligent Homicide.
Five elements are required to establish negligence:

1. The existence of a legal duty to exercise reasonable care.
2. Failure to exercise reasonable care
3. Cause in fact of physical harm by the negligent conduct
4. Physical harm in the form of actual damages
5. Proximate cause, a showing that the harm is within the scope of liability.Even as a layperson unfamiliar with law, I am confident that these aforementioned gentlemen are criminals guilty of the Criminally Negligent Homicide of Skyler Coughlin Anderson, and as such, we, the people, demand that they be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Sincerely,

Put your name here by going to this link:

https://www.change.org/p/attorney-general-eric-h-holder-jr-and-da-james-c-orenstein-please-be-responsible-as-public-servants-and-arrest-the-real-criminals-who-were-reckless-and-negligent-in-the-gruesome-homicide-of-an-innocent-teenager-skyler-coughlin-anderson