
CONTENT WARNING: This post deals with suicide and may be triggering for some readers. If you're based in Australia, please contact Lifeline 13 11 14 for support or beyondblue 1300 22 4636.
"I still struggle with the 'Why?'... I still replay it in my head."
Nineteen years ago, Beverly Hills 90210 actress Rebecca Gayheart was driving through Los Angeles in a friend’s Jeep Cherokee when she struck a nine-year-old boy as he crossed the road on his way home from school.

According to reports, he was jaywalking, and while the cars in front of Gayheart's had stopped to let him pass, she, not seeing him, had swerved into the left lane.
The young boy, Jorge Cruz Jr., died in hospital the following day.
Police interviewed Gayheart at the scene of the accident, but she was not arrested as she was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
In court months later, Gayheart pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter. She was sentenced to probation, had her license suspended for one year, was fined US$2,800, and underwent 750 hours of community service.
Outside the courtroom, her lawyer told reporters, "It was the worst thing that could ever have happened to her, killing a child... She feels terrible," according to the LA Times.
Gayheart paid Cruz's family US$10,000 for funeral expenses and offered to pay for grief counselling. She later privately settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his parents which cited her negligence as the reason for their son's death.
Top Comments
I'm confused by this accident. Obviously this article doesn't go into a lot of detail about the actual accident but I'm confused by how it was her fault? The boy was jaywalking and she couldn't have seen him due to the traffic ahead?
I understand why she feels upset etc however being charged with vehicular manslaughter seems a bit bloody rich.
Well vehicular manslaughter is just driving causing death. She didn't get charged with reckless driving. It probably could be argued that she should have driven cautiously if the traffic next to her was stopped for no apparent reason.