California nurse Nicole Linton allegedly caused a high-speed crash that killed six people, including a pregnant woman whose unborn child was expelled from her body and found in the roadway, prosecutors said.
Relatives of the victims wept in court during opening statements on Sept. 8 as prosecutors presented images from the 2022 collision, according to ABC7. Linton also cried during the proceedings, the New York Post reported.
“The defendant had plenty of time to stop, to brake, to swerve,” Deputy District Attorney Brittany Vannoy told jurors, 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 faces six murder charges and has pleaded not guilty. Her defense team says she was undergoing a mental health crisis before the collision and then suffered a seizure that caused her to lose control of the vehicle.
But the Times reported that a doctor who treated Linton after the crash had previously testified there was “no evidence of a neurological episode.”
Prosecutors say Linton, a traveling nurse from Texas, was driving her Mercedes-Benz through Windsor Hills on Aug. 4, 2022, when she accelerated to 131 mph and slammed into several vehicles.
The victims were Asherey Ryan, her 11-month-old son, Alonzo Quintero, her boyfriend, Reynold Lester, and the couple’s unborn child, whom they intended to name Armani.
Ryan, who was eight months pregnant, was on her way to a medical appointment. Her infant son was thrown from his car seat into a parking lot, where a passerby found him.
According to the Post, Vannoy said the bystander picked up the child and realized his neck was broken before screaming, “The baby, the baby!” The woman attempted CPR on Alonzo, but he could not be saved.
Ryan’s unborn child was “ripped” from her womb in the collision, Vannoy said, according to the Post. The remains were found on the road with the umbilical cord still attached, ABC7 reported.
Two friends, Nathesia Lewis and Lynette Noble, were also killed while traveling in another vehicle.
Linton suffered little physical injury. First responders said she appeared confused at the crash scene.
Emergency medical technician Isabel Schrama testified in 2024 that Linton asked, “Did I kill people? Did I hurt people?” before becoming increasingly distressed, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Vannoy also told jurors that Linton had grown unhappy with her assignment at Kaiser Permanente and was angry with colleagues, the Los Angeles Times reported. The prosecutor alleged that Linton “got in her car and channeled that fury, that frustration, into her driving.”
The prosecution cited a 2020 blog entry Linton wrote under the title “Bitter F- – -ing Nurse,” in which she complained about her life, according to the Times. Linton’s lawyer argued that the post had no bearing on the case.
Linton obtained her California nursing license less than five months before the fatal 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 Kaiser spokesperson did not immediately respond to Oxygen’s request for comment.
After the crash, the company described the incident as “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 referred additional questions to law enforcement.
Oxygen could not reach Linton’s attorney for comment.
