Driver not found negligent in pedestrian, truck incident

Thursday, December 10, 1998

ACCIDENT: Witnesses say man fell prior to being hit by pickup

By Ann Hawkey

Daily Bruin Staff

Two weeks after being run over by a pickup truck outside a Westwood apartment building, Matthew Sparks remains in the hospital with a spinal cord injury, as the driver of the truck is cleared of any legal wrongdoing.

Recent UCLA graduate Dennis Lytton was pulling out of his driveway at 10941 Strathmore Dr. when he hit Sparks at about 1 a.m. on Nov. 25. Sparks was pinned under the right rear tire when Lytton stopped the truck.

Sparks suffered injuries to his head, neck and back, as well as a shattered right leg, according to paramedics at the scene.

Sparks is now in fair condition at the UCLA Medical Center and is no longer in the intensive care unit, but he is still not walking, said hospital spokeswoman Elaine Schmidt.

Sparks' family declined to comment further on his condition.

Traffic investigators have determined from witness accounts that Sparks was not walking past the driveway when he was hit, but rather lying on the sidewalk in front of the driveway for reasons that are not clear.

"The pedestrian had fallen or was laying down across the driveway when he was run over," said Officer D.J. Gauff, a traffic investigator for LAPD's West Traffic Division.

Lytton was driving his girlfriend's truck, a blue Chevrolet S-10, but no one was in the car with him at the time of the accident, according to Lytton and other witnesses.

"I was going very slow because the driveway is a blind place," said Lytton, who graduated this summer and now works in the university's Office of Sponsored Research.

Lytton said he was not able to see Sparks on the ground because the slope of the driveway is too steep, not because he was driving too fast.

While not assessing blame, the apartment manager, Tudor Vasile, said he has not received any complaints about the driveway.

"This building has been here for 49 years and no one has had an accident in the driveway," Vasile said.

Traffic investigators confirmed that Lytton was not at fault and established that no crime was committed in the accident, clearing Lytton of any possible charges.

"There's no crime on the part of the driver, but there's still a liability issue," Gauff said.

Though the police did not find him to be at fault, Lytton said he may still face a lawsuit from the victim.

"I would have been arrested at the scene had it been clear that I had just plain hit him," he said.

Lytton said he has spoken to the lawyer for the Sparks family regarding insurance information, but no legal action has been taken.

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