911 calls in Bruce Jenner traffic accident released
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy photographed the scene of a car crash where one person was killed and at least seven others were injured on Feb. 7. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
LOS ANGELES » Authorities on Wednesday released a 911 call about a deadly accident involving Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner but it shed no light on what caused the four-car pileup in Malibu.
In a brief recording released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a woman who reported the crash Saturday on the Pacific Coast Highway said she had just driven past the accident.
"Are there any injuries?" an emergency dispatcher asks.
"I’m going to say yes, it looks pretty bad," the woman says.
She indicates that a baby was among passengers at the scene and adds: "One car is destroyed."
Jenner was driving a black Cadillac Escalade when he rear-ended a Lexus sedan that investigators say had already hit a Toyota Prius.
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Robert Simon, an attorney for the Prius driver, said that Jenner’s SUV also struck the Prius, which had stopped in traffic.
Simon also told the Los Angeles Times that his client, Jessica Steindorff, 29, did not realize she was driving with a suspended license. Records indicate it was suspended in 2013. Simon said it was suspended without her knowledge after she failed to appear in court for a speeding ticket.
After it was hit by Jenner’s Cadillac, the Lexus veered into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with a black Hummer. The driver of the Lexus — Kim Howe, 69, of Calabasas — died at the scene.
California Department of Motor Vehicle records showed Howe’s license had expired in 2007.
Investigators have sought the cellphone records of the drivers involved to determine whether they might have been distracted.
A publicist, Alan Nierob, has said that Jenner wasn’t texting while driving and will provide his cellphone records.
Jenner passed a field sobriety test and voluntarily submitted a blood sample to determine whether he was intoxicated.
Asked Monday about the testing, Nierob said Jenner has not received any indication from authorities that they have found evidence of intoxication.
Jenner won a gold medal in the men’s decathlon at the 1976 Summer Games, but he is known to a younger generation as Kim Kardashian’s stepfather.
