“How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?” — Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s humanistic sentiments when he wrote 1962’s Blowin’ in the Wind could be reworded to fit Americans’ driving-while-texting tragedies today. How many such distracted driving deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died, and embrace our responsibility behind the wheel? And how many deaths will it take till Texas bans texting while driving — as 23 states already have?

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The following is a guest post by Dolan Law Offices of Chicago, Ill.:

Chad Holley alleges that he was beaten by eight Houston Police officers on March 24, 2010.  The now 16 year old African American teen, who was 15 at the time of the alleged beating, was being chased by police because he was a suspect in a burglary.  Holley claims that he did not resist arrest by the police but that he was chased and beaten by eight officers.

Holley’s injuries were significant and caused him to spend several days in the hospital.

The entire incident was caught on a surveillance camera outside a Southwest Houston storage facility.  The Chief of Police has seen the video and has told ABC News that he is concerned.  The Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI are also concerned and are conducting their own investigations of the incident.

Quanell X, an activist, was provided a copy of the tape by the storage facility.  He says that he has watched the tape and he describes seeing the police handcuff Holley and then begin to beat him.  After they were done, Quanell X reports seeing the officers congratulate each other.  In his words to ABC News, the police officers were like “a pack of hyenas on a piece of raw meat.”

The eight officers face potential state and federal charges if they are found to have committed police brutality.  All of the officers are on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Chicago Civil Rights Lawyers of Dolan Law Offices have been closely following alleged civil rights violations involving the Houston Fire Department and are committed to following these serious and troubling allegations against the Houston Police Department.  In Illinois, our police brutality lawyers remain vigilant about holding police officers accountable for civil rights violations.

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Chances are you’ve known someone who’s had surgery on their ankle, knee, shoulder, wrist or other joint in their body, and afterward, they’ve had pain and needed help. And chances are that person’s doctor had them use cryotherapy or a cold therapy system to remove heat, reduce pain and ease inflammation.

If so, this means there’s another chance: that your friend or loved one suffered a cryotherapy injury after such cold therapy treatment. They may have had nerve damage, skin damage and extreme, sustained pain.

This happens in part because such cold therapy systems are supposed to be applied by patients, yet do not provide them with adequate instructions. The cold therapy machine — a cooler with icy water, a pump and a cooling pad placed on the body — can be set at too low of a temperature or used for too long of a time. And that can cause cryotherapy injury.

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BP CEO Tony Hayward is adding galling insult to devastating injury. Rightly facing billions of dollars in costs to clean up BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to compensate Americans for huge business losses to come, Hayward has pre-emptively attacked future American oil spill damage lawsuits by branding them “illegitimate.”

“This is America — come on,” the well-tailored head of London-based BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, told the Times of London. “We’re going to have lots of illegitimate claims. We all know that.”

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Innocent Americans who have taken Accutane as a means of fighting severe acne now may find themselves suffering from a variety of harmful Accutane side effects, including gastrointestinal disorders.

These ailments can take the form of UC, or Ulcerative Colitis, or Crohn’s Disease. Both are inflammatory bowel diseases, but they affect different parts of the digestive system.

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The oil business rakes in many billions of dollars in profits while you pay high prices at the gas pump and try to feed your family. But imagine how much more galling it will be to fishing, tourism and other business along the Gulf of Mexico coast as the economic fallout of last month’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill hits home.

As it stands now, British Petroleum, or BP, which was operating the doomed oil platform, has a $75 million cap on payments for non-cleanup and containment costs. In other words, if Louisiana’s $3 billion fishing industry is ruined, or if the Gulf Coast’s $100 billion tourism industry is staggered, they can stand in line to try getting a fraction of that cost from the company which seems to have caused it through negligence.

Fortunately, the Obama administration is trying to correct this problem, which was created by the 1990 Oil Pollution Act. Indeed, the administration is working with Congress to lift the $75 million cap to pay for oil spill damages, in order to help those who suffer financially in Gulf Coast states Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

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If your teen sons or daughters have a texting habit, and that extends to when they’re driving, they have a significantly higher chance of drying in a car crash. That’s the report of the Texas Transportation Institute, via data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The report reveals a study showing that nighttime fatal crashes are increasing at a faster rate for young age groups. That spike is being attributed not just to more night trips by teen drivers, but to teens texting while driving at night.

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The immediate toll from April’s explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon came in human life, with 11 tragic deaths among the oil platform’s crew. The ensuing toll includes catastrophic damages to nature and wildlife, and devastating damages to fishing , tourism and other businesses along the Gulf of Mexico coast of Louisiana, Texas and other states.

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In Houston, a baby is on life support in a hospital because a car crashed into her family’s home. In San Antonio, a woman is hospitalized with serious injuries after a car crashed into her while she drove to church. In Dallas, four people are in a hospital after a three-car accident on North Central Expressway.

What do all these tragedies over the weekend have in common? They all involve suspected drunk drivers who lost control of their vehicle. But when the DUI suspect truly lost control was upon making a conscious decision to drink and then drive.

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London-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has agreed to pay a $520 million fine exacted by the U.S. Department of Justice for illegally marketing antipsychotic drug Seroquel by overstating the drug’s purposes and failing to alert users of its health risks.

Does all this sound familiar? If so, it should. In just three years, that makes four enormous pharmaceutical companies which have paid large fines for illegally marketing antipsychotic drugs, which for them is a hugely profitable arena.

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