Nurse accused of driving 131 mph before crash that killed pregnant mom, ejected unborn baby into road
California nurse Nicole Linton allegedly caused a high-speed car crash that killed six people—including a pregnant mom whose unborn child was ripped from her womb and landed in the road, according to prosecutors.
Loved ones of the victims left the courtroom in tears during opening statements on Sept. 8, as prosecutors showed images of the 2022 crash, according to ABC7. Linton also became emotional and cried, the New York Post reported.
“The defendant had plenty of time to stop, to brake, to swerve,” Deputy District Attorney Brittany Vannoy said in court, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But instead she floored that gas pedal to 131 mph, ignored that red light, and barreled toward that intersection, killing six people.”
Linton is charged with six counts of murder. She has pleaded not guilty. Her attorneys argued that she was experiencing a mental health crisis before the crash, followed by a seizure that caused her to lose control of her car.
However, according to the Times, one doctor who treated Linton after the crash had testified earlier that there was “no evidence of a neurological episode.”
Ryan was eight months pregnant and headed to a doctor’s appointment. Ryan’s infant was ejected from his car seat and into a parking lot, where a bystander picked him up off the ground.
“She went to go pick him up and realized his neck was broken and screamed, ‘The baby, the baby!’” Vannnoy said, according to the Post. “She tries to perform CPR on Baby Alonzo, but it was too late.”
Meanwhile, Ryan’s unborn baby was “ripped” from her womb, Vannoy said, according to the Post. His remains were found on the roadway with the umbilical cord still attached, ABC7 reported.
Friends Nathesia Lewis and Lynette Noble, who were riding in another car, were also killed.
Linton was largely uninjured, though first responders said she seemed confused at the scene.
“She asked, ‘Did I kill people? Did I hurt people?’” Emergency medical technician Isabel Schrama testified in 2024, according to the Los Angeles Times. “And then she started to, I would say, freak out.”
During opening statements, Vannoy argued that Linton was unhappy with her Kaiser Permanente assignment and angry at coworkers, according to the Los Angeles Times. That day, she said, Linton “got in her car and channeled that fury, that frustration, into her driving.”
The prosecutor pointed to a 2020 blog post by Linton titled “Bitter Fucking Nurse” in which she vented about her life, the Times reported. However, Linton’s attorney denied that the post was relevant to the case.
Linton had received her California nursing license less than five months before the crash.
“At that time, Ms. Linton did not have a criminal history or a record of discipline that would have precluded her from obtaining licensure; and the BRN did not have any information calling her mental state into question,” a spokesperson for the California Board of Registered Nursing told FOX 11. “At this time, upon the request of counsel representing the BRN, Ms. Linton has been suspended from practicing nursing until the resolution of her criminal proceeding, or unless and until the court orders otherwise.”
A spokesperson for Kaiser did not immediately return requests for comment from Oxygen.
Following the tragedy, a spokesperson called the crash “horrific.”
“It’s impossible to imagine the pain those involved are experiencing,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox 11. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.” The company directed further questions to law enforcement.
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Article Source: Nurse Nicole Linton Murder Trial Begins
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