Frick, a minor league baseball player with a promising career, had given Mercer – the designated driver for a group of friends who visited a Ventura nightspot - the keys to his truck to drive five people home. While traveling east on Foothill Road Mercer lost control of the truck, which flipped at least once and then landed on its wheels near Aliso Canyon Road.Mercer pleaded no contest to charges that he drove while intoxicated in a Ventura County Superior Court in October. He will be sentenced next month; he faces a maximum of four years in prison for his conviction on vehicular manslaughter charges.Tim Coultas of Santa Paula, 23, was also killed in the Thanksgiving morning accident. Two other passengers escaped with minor injuries.
Lawsuits filed over death of Ventura woman in Thanksgiving 2003 crash
December 03, 2004
Santa Paula News
The parents of a 22-year-old Ventura woman who died in a single vehicle crash on Foothill Road on Thanksgiving morning a year ago have filed wrongful death suits seeking millions in damages from the driver of the truck and its owner, who was also killed.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe parents of a 22-year-old Ventura woman who died in a single vehicle crash on Foothill Road on Thanksgiving morning a year ago have filed wrongful death suits seeking millions in damages from the driver of the truck and its owner, who was also killed. The third fatality resulting from the crash was a Santa Paula man.Reanne Singer and Robert Beilin, parents of Rebecca Amy Singer-Beilin, are seeking $15 million from Tomas Mercer and the estate of Michael Frick. The suits, filed separately, allege that Mercer and Frick acted with “oppression, malice and conscious disregard for the rights and safety of others,” that led to the November 27, 2003 crash and death of Singer-Beilin, who was studying to become a nurse.
