Melissa H. Cronin survived the 2003 Santa Monica Farmers' Market crash, which killed 10 people and injured dozens. Her memoir, The Peach: A Memoir of Trauma, Survival, and Forgiveness, recounts her experience and is scheduled to be published Thursday, October 15, by Mnemosyne Books, a new imprint of Saint Julian Press.
On July 16, 2003, 86-year-old driver George Russell Weller drove his 1992 Buick LeSabre through the closed market at speeds reaching up to 60 mph, traveling nearly 1,000 feet before stopping, according to CBS News. The crash happened on Arizona Avenue near Third Street Promenade, where pedestrians had gathered for the open-air market, according to Wikipedia's account of the crash. In an excerpt adapted for Streetsblog USA, Cronin recalled holding a peach at Arizona Avenue at 1:43 p.m. when the vehicle struck, according to Streetsblog USA.
A Delayed Diagnosis and a Long Recovery
Cronin suffered life-threatening injuries, including a ruptured spleen and shattered pelvis, and sustained a brain injury. She later wrote an essay about Weller and forgiveness, according to Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury. The Santa Monica Daily Press describes The Peach as an account of recovery and the effort to rebuild a life after brain injury and loss.
Cronin's memoir also recounts support she received from people around her after the crash, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. Among those cited in advance praise, physician Carolyn Roy-Bornstein and trauma specialist Madeleine Tobias focus on the effects of brain injury and the possibility of recovery, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
The Crash That Reshaped a City
The scale of the 2003 tragedy triggered years of legal and regulatory fallout in Santa Monica. Weller was convicted in October 2006 of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, but a judge sentenced him the following month to five years of probation rather than prison, citing his advanced age and failing health, according to SFGATE. Weller died in December 2010 at age 94. His defense attorneys had argued at trial that the crash resulted from pedal error, claiming he panicked after mistaking the accelerator for the brake, while prosecutors countered that his failure to steer toward parked trucks rather than crowds of people demonstrated gross negligence, per CBS News.
In May 2008, the City of Santa Monica agreed to pay $21 million to settle 42 consolidated wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits brought by victims and their families, the Los Angeles Times reported. An earlier NTSB investigation found the city partially at fault for relying on ineffective wooden sawhorse barricades and an outdated 1987 traffic control plan. Santa Monica later upgraded security at its open-air market with retractable metal bollards and began positioning municipal vehicles to block street entry points during public events, according to the law firm Rose, Klein & Marias.
What is known about market barriers?
The NTSB recommended a temporary rigid barrier system at the market’s closure limits to keep errant vehicles from entering, but the recommendation does not establish what the city ultimately installed. A 2011 Los Angeles Times report said Santa Monica planned to install net-style vehicle barriers at the entrances to its Wednesday and Saturday downtown markets. That report describes a plan, not what barriers are in place today.
Weller had not been required to take a road driving test when the California DMV renewed his license in 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.
From ICU Nurse to Published Author
Cronin, a former neonatal intensive care nurse, gardener and nature artist, went on to earn an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. Her writing has since received a notable mention in The Best American Essays and support from the Vermont Studio Center and the Vermont Arts Council. She now lives with her husband in Vermont's Champlain Islands, as noted in event materials from Seven Days.
The Peach will be available in paperback and e-book wherever books are sold starting Thursday, with print and e-book editions available for pre-order from major retailers. Cronin is scheduled to hold a reading and discussion of the memoir at Phoenix Books in Burlington, Vermont, on October 22.
