Sometimes a mistake is just a mistake

Surely no one other than the loved ones of Shirley Lee Williams,72, is more upset how her body was overlooked in a crashed car in Tarzana on Saturday than the emergency responders who missed finding her crumbled form under the passenger-side airbag. When family members discovered she was missing, authorities checked the car that had been towed to a yard where they found her body.

It's a horrifying story, made only less so by coroner's statement that she probably died minutes after the crash. And many people will be expecting the authorities to do something so that this never happens again. But before people go hogwild condemning the police or EMTs or coming up with laws requiring that another form be filled out for each accident, we ought to consider that sometimes mistakes are just that. In my early days as a reporter, I've been to too many accident scenes to count. And the men and women who respond do everything they can to help in chaotic, gruesome and often dangerous situations. This was a freak accident that is getting so much attention precisely because it is so freakish and rare.

Indeed, the most suspicious thing is why Williams' son, the driver who crashed the car into the side of a building, didn't tell authorities his elderly mother was in the car. You'd think he might have been concerned enough to ask if she was alright.

But be sure that from now on, rescuers are going to be looking under every airbag for possible victims. Maybe even in trunks, under seats, in glove boxes, cargo holds...