Drew Barrymore was involved in a hit-and-run accident on Monday in Los Angeles, but was unhurt. She also chased down the runaway driver and got his digits – license plate digits –for police.

The collision occurred shortly before noon as Barrymore was driving near Gardner Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, said Sgt. Kristin Aloma of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station.

Barrymore followed the hit-and-run vehicle after her car was rear-ended and got its license plate number, Aloma said.

Police are trying to track down the driver, Aloma said.

Los Angeles Times

While I’m sure that Drew didn’t chase the driver on foot, she was rear ended so the car was probably okay to drive, they don’t have engines in the back. I think engines are in the front – I’m not a car person. But I love the imagery of her sprinting off down the road, Charlie’s Angels style, leaping onto the car in question, ripping off his license plate and delivering it to police like the Holy Grail. Sometimes I have a problem separating actresses from their parts.

Hopefully the car wasn’t stolen, so that the driver will be easily identified by the plate number. While the accident may have been minor, hit and runs should be prosecuted to ensure that people don’t think they can get away with it.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Drew Barrymore and Justin Long are shown leaving Mr. Chow on 5/4/08. He does not look like he should be driving. Thanks to WENN for these photos.

Britney after her last rear-ending incident last month, thanks to WENN
Britney Spears was involved in yet another minor car accident in which she rear-ended a car. Her last rear-ending incident (snicker) was just a month ago, and she was said to have been trying to apply makeup while she was driving in stop and go traffic, not paying attention and bumping into the car in front of her.

This time she was also said to have been distracted and to have “tapped” a Ford Explorer driven by a woman in front of her. Britney’s bodyguard gave the driver of the other car a business card, and then she followed Britney back to her house. People Magazine speculates that they went to Britney’s place “to avoid press attention.” Britney’s accident last month was well documented by the paparazzi that surround her like flies, so it was a good idea to get away from the cameras this time. Britney may not be driving much better but at least she’s making decent choices afterwards. If only she would have made the choice to let her bodyguard drive, to have paid better attention, or to have hired a driver, she could have avoided this situation in the first place. It still seems like progress to me, though. Considering everything she’s been through this is just a blip.

Country singer Kenny Chesney had what looked like a pretty serious injury while performing in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday. His foot got caught in a platform that rose up when he first appeared on stage, causing him to double over in pain as he was trapped there for at least 60 seconds.

E! Online points out that it’s obvious Kenny was singing live, because he stopped immediately once his poor foot got jammed. He went on to perform for over two hours for the 44,000 fans who were there. He limped throughout the night and was seen holding his knee during the show, but did not mention the accident or his pain to the crowd.

When he left the stage after what must have been a grueling performance, a physician was on hand to treat him and his foot was so swollen that his boot had to be cut off.

In a statement issued after the show, Chesney said that the adrenaline kept him going and that he did it for the fans:

“I took one look at those fans, and there was no way I wasn’t going on,” he said in a statement after the concert, which was part of his Poets and Pirates tour.

“Sometimes the energy and the adrenaline pull you through. They had come to rock, and there was no way I was sending them home with anything less than the best of what me and my guys came to do—put it all out there and give them back at least as good as they gave us…”

“Honestly, through the pain, through all of it, Columbia, S.C., totally got me through.”

[From E! Online]

I don’t know whether to admire the guy or consider him foolish for not at least taking a break from the show and getting treatment before going back on. He is certainly dedicated, and that must be part of what helped make him a country superstar in the first place.

Here’s the video. It sounds like Chesney or someone else is yelling for help, but it’s hard to tell.

The upcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, seems like it’s plagued by bad luck, and the latest news is incredibly disheartening. On Saturday a stunt driver walked away with minor injuries after a car accident in which a rare Aston Martin slipped off a steep road and sunk to the bottom of Italy’s Lake Garda. Now comes news that a stuntman had serious head injuries in a crash with another car driven by a stuntman, again “on a winding lakeside road” near Lake Garda. It sounds as if it’s touch and go for the stuntman, because they say he suffered serious head injuries and had to undergo surgery. The second stuntman has been treated and released:

Officials in the Italian resort of Lake Garda say a stuntman was gravely injured in a car crash while filming the new James Bond movie.

A spokesman for the northern town of Limone sul Garda says the stuntman suffered serious head injuries when he and another stuntman crashed during a car chase sequence on a winding lakeside road.

The spokesman says the stuntman underwent surgery at a hospital in nearby Verona. He said the second stuntman was slightly injured.

The accident occurred on the last day of filming at the lake on Wednesday.

[AP via The Huffington Post]

It’s a dangerous profession, but they should have the stunts planned out well enough so that the risks are calculated. Our thoughts go out to the stuntman in the hospital, and hopefully he will have a full recovery despite the very serious accident he suffered. I know I don’t want to hear about this James Bond movie again for a while unless it’s good news, and you have to wonder if they’re trying to rush production given the fact that they’ve had two accidents this week.

Britney Spears was involved in a minor fender bender at around 8:15 Saturday night on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles. Britney’s car hit the car of the guy in front of her in stop and go traffic. She tried to brake but it was too late, and she hit him at about 10-15 mph. That guy’s car then bumped into the car in front of him, but there was no damage to the third vehicle.

She passed standard sobriety test after causing minor accident
Britney was given a field sobriety test by the California Highway Patrol and passed, and apparently that’s standard procedure with a car accident at that time of night. She was not behaving as if she was drunk and officers did not suspect that she was.

The guy in the car Britney hit was 21, and he told TMZ that he was checking out Britney in his rearview mirror before she hit him and noticed that she was applying makeup. It wasn’t until after the minor crash that he realized who she was.

Britney did not apologize to the guy she hit, but her bodyguard did. She did mention that she was on her way to have dinner with her mom.

Why was Britney driving if she still had to do her makeup and was presumably late for dinner? She had a bodyguard in the car who just as easily could have driven for her.

What kind of makeup was she applying?
What I really wonder is what kind of makeup she was applying, because this is an important detail. It’s moderately dangerous to put on lipstick while you’re driving. You can do a little touch up without looking in the mirror if you’re careful and driving slow enough. Maybe you could apply some blush if it’s the stick kind, I love that type because it’s so convenient, as long as you do it without checking yourself out in the mirror, and don’t blend it until after you’re stopped.

But there’s no way you should ever put on concealer or any kind of eye makeup while you’re driving, because you can’t do that without seeing yourself, and that’s way too distracting. I will admit to putting on mascara twice while I was driving, because I was super late to something and was young and stupid enough to think that it was ok. I don’t put on any kind of makeup now while I’m operating a motor vehicle, probably because I’m older and less vain, but I also have a kid and he’s usually in the car with me. It’s just not worth the risk. You may as well be 10 minutes late.

What’s Britney’s excuse? She was just going to meet her mom. She gets her photograph taken everywhere she goes, but all she has to do is put on sunglasses and wait to do her makeup in the bathroom once she gets there.

It’s possible that a lawsuit might result from this minor accident. The guy Britney hit told TMZ that his back was hurting the next day. Oh please.

[Details from several reports on TMZ.com] Thanks to WENN for these photos of the accident.

Princess Diana’s life and death has probably been the subject of more gossip than Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan combined. Now, the verdict has finally been reached at the latest inquiry into the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed in the Alma Tunnel in France. It is consistent with the French inquiry into the accident and finds the paparazzi and chauffeur responsible:

Following three-and-a-half days of deliberation, the inquest jury has returned a majority verdict of unlawful killing through gross negligence with the shared blame resting between chauffeur Henri Paul and the paparazzi.

The jury had been told by the Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker that such a verdict effectively implicated manslaughter.

The findings come ten-and-a-half years after Diana, Dodi and Henri Paul died after the Mercedes they were travelling in crashed into a pillar in the Alma Tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997.

Contributing to their deaths, the jury found, were the fact that neither Diana nor Dodi were wearing a seatbelt, and the fact Mr Paul had been drink-driving.

They also singled out the paparazzi’s speed and manner of driving as factors.

Sydney Morning Herald

There have been many conspiracy theories about the accident, mostly that the British intelligence agency M16 was involved or acting under the orders of the Royal Family.

The other theories disproved by the investigation are that Diana was pregnant (she wasn’t), and that she and Dodi were engaged (nope, that wasn’t true either). It doesn’t matter how deep the investigations probe, or how many inquiries are held, not everyone will believe the results.

Dodi Al-Fayed’s father, Harrods owner Mohammed Al-Fayed has previously been the main source of the alternate theories, and it has been suggested that he will appeal the verdict. He has two memorials in his London department store, one of which has a wine glass that Diana drank from, containing an ‘engagement’ ring Dodi had bought the day before their deaths.

The inquiry cost the British taxpayer £10 million, and took 93 days of a jury sitting to come to the verdict. They are now excused from further jury duty for life, if they desire.

The best that can come out of the inquiry is this: If you drink and drive, speed, and don’t wear a seatbelt, an accident is likely to occur. It doesn’t matter how important you are, it can happen to anyone.

Some details from Wikipedia.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s vintage Fiat flipped over yesterday in the Hamptons after his brakes failed. He got up and walked out of the crash without any injuries, and his wife says he’s fine and was just a little shaken. Seinfeld pulled the emergency brake when the brakes failed and cut the car swiftly to the side to avoid oncoming traffic, which is when it flipped over. No other cars were hit:

The dramatic accident occurred at 7:40 p.m. Saturday on Skimhampton Road in East Hampton, said East Hampton Police Chief Todd Sarris.

Seinfeld was alone in the vehicle, driving north toward Montauk Highway.

“The brakes went bad,” Sarris said. But Jerry kept his head.

“He had to pull the emergency brake,” which Sarris said still failed to halt the two-door vehicle as it headed into traffic on the highway.

Seinfeld then cut the wheel to the right and “the car rolled over” and stopped yards from the intersection - just short of other vehicles.

The 1967 Fiat BTM rolled onto the passenger side, then the roof, and finally came to rest on the driver’s side.

“His actions probably avoided a very serious accident,” Sarris said. “I think he was a little shaken up, with justification.”

Police rushed to the scene, but the comic did not require medical attention.

The accident was chalked up to mechanical failure. Seinfeld had not been drinking and no summonses were issued, Sarris said.

A friend following Seinfeld in another car drove him to his nearby East Hampton mansion.

[From The NY Post]

Seinfeld made a stupid joke about the incident that brings home how dated and unfunny his skits are.

“Because I know there are kids out there, I want to make sure they all know that driving without braking is not something I recommend, unless you have professional clown training or a comedy background, as I do. It is not something I plan to make a habit of.”

I’m glad he got away unhurt and all, but couldn’t he have damaged someone else’s car or property and be faced with a massive lawsuit? The guy needs to be slapped with another one.

Seinfeld owns something like 47 Porsches, according to the NY Post, and had a huge multi million dollar garage built in NY city just to house his cars. Heaven forbid that building should burn to the ground or anything.

The family of permanently disabled John Graziano, the now comatose passenger in Nick Bollea’s car accident last year, has finally filed suit against Nick and his parents. The civil suit names Nick, Linda and Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan) as co-defendants, as well as the man who was street racing against Nick in the minutes leading up to the wreck that left Graziano, 22, in a permanent vegetative state.

Clearwater, Florida - The attorney for John Graziano’s family announced details of a 6-count complaint civil lawsuit filed in Pinellas County on Monday.

The lawsuit cites three counts of negligence against Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan and Nick’s father), one against Linda Bollea (Nick’s mother), one against Nick Bollea, and a final count against Daniel Jacobs, the driver of the Dodge Viper that Nick was racing.

The Graziano family is claiming in the lawsuit that Terry and Linda Bollea should have known that their son was a reckless driver, and were also aware that their son was drinking on the day of the crash.

Hogan’s son, Nick Bollea, was allegedly speeding when Clearwater police say he lost control of his car and crashed last summer. Graziano was a passenger in the car and suffered serious head wounds. Graziano’s family says he will require medical care for the rest of his life.

Bollea faces a felony charge of reckless driving with serious bodily injury.

[From Tampa Bay News 10]

If you recall, Nick and his parents went on the offensive in the weeks after the horrific crash, deflecting blame instead of owning up to their roles in this young man’s injury, stating that if John had been wearing a seat belt he would have been fine, even though the photos of the car after the crash suggest otherwise. It looks like John’s family will finally get their day in court after all. This will be one in a long line of court appearances for Nick, who was arrested in the days after the crash on three charges, including third degree felony reckless driving.

Johnny Knoxville showed his catheter on the Jimmy Kimmel show and described the stunt that nearly cost him his balls. He was filming a tribute to Evil Knevil and was trying to backflip a motorcycle. Even though he was warned ahead of time not to let go of the bike, he did and the thing came down hard between his legs, the handlebar even breaking off into his crotch. He said he felt like he was peeing after the accident, but it was blood instead. Luckily there was a waiting ambulance there.

Given some of the stunts these guys pull I’m surprised that nothing worse has happened to them. I can’t really tolerate this show, but I happened to watch some of the Jackass movie on TV and Steve O was hanging on a rope over a crocodile pit with some raw meat stuffed into his underwear. The guy was laughing maniacally and he didn’t seem like he was all there. Johnny Knoxville, on the other hand, is oddly attractive to me. He told Kimmel that he got shit from his girlfriend after this stunt, and that he’s “much more scared of her than I am that motorcycle or the ramp.”

Thanks to Seriously? OMG! WTF? for the photo, and video below. I hope that’s just a bunch of gauze that Knoxville is holding in that picture, but somehow I doubt it.

Thanks to commentor StellaPurdy for noting that the gross overdose of the blood thinner Heparin that could have killed or seriously injured Dennis Quaid’s 12-day-old twins is not the first time that premature babies have been put in severe life-threatening danger from that specific medical error. Apparently Heparin is packaged in such a way that makes it very difficult to distinguish between adult and infant doses of the medicine, which look almost identical.

This case is similar to a September, 2006 incident at an Indianapolis hospital in which three premature infants died after given gross overdoses of Heparin:

The baby girl, Thursday Dawn Jeffers, died late Tuesday at Riley Hospital for Children five days after she was born at Methodist Hospital. She had been transferred to Riley once her condition worsened from receiving an adult dose of heparin, a drug routinely given to premature babies…

Two other girls, D’myia Sabrina Nelson and Emmery Miller, both less than a week old, died Saturday at Methodist’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

They were given the drug, which is often used to prevent blood clots that could clog intravenous tubes, after a pharmacy technician accidentally stored adult doses in the neonatal unit’s drug cabinet. Three other babies who also received too-strong doses were still in critical condition because they are premature but were not considered in danger from the overdoses, said Methodist Hospital spokesman Jon Mills.

[From CBSNews thanks to commentor Stellapurdy]

Unlike this sad case in Indiana, there have been no fatalities from this error at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA. Quaid’s twins are listed in stable condition, after being given medication to combat the effects of the heparin.

The Chief Medical Officer at Cedars-Sinai has issued a statement saying that seven patients were given the incorrect dose, and that only two patients, presumed to be Quaid’s twins, were adversely affected. They are said to be fine now:

Additional medical tests and clinical evaluation conducted on the two patients indicated no adverse effects from the higher concentration of heparin or from the temporary abnormal clotting function. Doctors continue to monitor the patients.

[Statement from Cedars-Sinai found on TMZ.com]

Medical errors in which mistaken doses are given and/or in which one package is confused with another that looks similar are common and can be deadly.

In 2005, Duke University hospital surgeons used tainted instruments that had been washed in used hydraulic fluid from the elevators instead of detergent for weeks. A technician had drained the fluid into empty detergent bottles and had placed them by the dumpster, where they were mistaken for detergent and returned to wash instruments. Dozens of patients suffered extreme lasting health problems from the error.