As you know, a woman died this February in a multi-car accident in which Caitlyn Jenner was involved. The extent of Caitlyn’s role in the accident is somewhat unknown as reports vary. she has not been charged criminally yet, and it’s not expected she will be, but she has been named in two different civil suits. Caitlyn nee Bruce Jenner has been sued twice for the crash, by the family of the deceased and a person in a second car who was injured. Both lawsuits are now pending.
Caitlyn’s historical transition has been dominating the news lately, but The Daily Beast wants us to remember the victim of the car crash for which Caitlyn may or may not have been responsible. (I tend to think people are jumping to conclusions in blaming Caitlyn. A car stopped short, a second car stopped to avoid rear-ending the first car, and then Caitlyn rear ended the second car, causing it careen into traffic and get hit by an SUV, killing the driver. Caitlyn was towing an ATV, limiting her ability to stop. She may or may not have been following too close. She was smoking at the time. More on the accident here.)
The Daily Beast’s Michael Daly lets us know that the victim of that accident, Kim Howe, 69, was a charitable, well-liked lady who lost her husband to a heart attack 12 years prior to her death. In doing so, Daly throws a lot of shade on Caitlyn’s character despite the fact that she hasn’t been found responsible for the accident. I’ll excerpt some relevant parts but please read the full article to get a better idea:
The official findings will be based on the facts as presented by reports from everybody who was involved in the investigation, from the sheriff’s office to the California Highway Patrol, as well as the medical people.
The conclusions will be the same regardless of whether it is Bruce or Caitlyn on the paperwork. The determining factors will be whether Jenner was driving too fast (perhaps) or following too close (some reports suggest yes) or texting (reportedly no) or intoxicated (also reportedly no)…
By outward appearances, Caitlyn seems to have already found herself not guilty. She pronounced the collision a great tragedy immediately after the incident but seemed to portray herself as blameless.
What was most remarkable about that Vanity Fair cover was not what you saw, but what you did not see.
Jenner certainly did not seem haunted by the demise of a fellow woman four years older than herself, who lived not far from the Kardashian girls in a gorgeous residence that already had been shadowed by a terrible loss a dozen years ago…
Just two days after the Howes closed on the place, and just as they were to embark on a European holiday, Robert suffered a fatal heart attack.
Kim moved in nonetheless along with her rescue pooch, Daisy.
“She lived there all those years by herself with the dog,” Pascucci says…
As has been reported by the New York Daily News, Howe had been active long before her widowhood in supporting the efforts of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to find alternatives to experimentation on animals…
“She had strong feelings, strong beliefs, but a very quiet, soft-spoken person,” Barnard says.
“She wouldn’t in a million years have caused an accident,” he says.
He is horrified by the thought of her stopping for a car ahead of her and then suddenly being struck from behind and sent into oncoming traffic.
“Can you imagine how terrifying that would be?” he asks.
Maybe such imagining does torment the world-famous personage who was driving the car that triggered the horror.
Or maybe Jenner has been too busy of late imagining herself as the woman she knew herself to be.
But what kind of woman is she?
What kind of person?
The person we should all wish ourselves to be is a kindred spirit to the person who perished in that accident.
No one said that Caitlyn is perfect, in fact she was an absentee father to her oldest children and definitely seems somewhat narcissistic. (That’s pretty much a side effect of having any kind of long term relationship with PMK.) As Daly mentions, no one found Caitlyn responsible for this accident, either. All we have are conflicting reports and there is no official conclusion yet. It’s also unlikely, according to TMZ, that she will be criminally prosecuted for this accident. So I do think it’s premature to blame her. (Although to be fair Daly did not do this, he just threw a lot of shade – masterfully I might add.) We can talk about Kim Howe’s charity work and her commitment to animal rights without denigrating Caitlyn Jenner. There is a lawsuit pending. While it would have been nice to hear remorse from Caitlyn about this accident, (whether or not she could have prevented it) she’s been advised by lawyers not to talk about it at all.
I do think that Caitlyn should have objected to the photos taken of her posing in her car, though. It probably never occurred to her, but it should have.
Here is Kim Howe:
Aside from Jenner being the cause or not, it’s nice that they put a face on a woman who lost her life, highlighting her life and not just her death.
But THIS statement, “She wouldn’t in a million years have caused an accident,” is plainly absurd.
Someone needs to look up the word ‘accident’.
I was thinking the same thing. I’m sorry that some lost their life, and sorry for the family of the people involved.
Someone reached really hard with that ” would never in a million years cause an accident” comment, and they pulled a muscle….. therefore, I will offer them a seat and a dictionary.
I agree. It put a dark cloud over Caitlin’s magazine spread for me because it must have been painful for the victim’s family. Whether or not she was responsible, she was involved and a period of respect feels appropriate. At least until the legalities are settled.
I just posted the exact same thing below, I should have read comments before commenting.
Surveillance video shows that Jenner was the cause of both accidents; Jenner’s car literally pushed the victim’s car into oncoming traffic, which took her life. I know it is an accident, but Jenner must have been really zoned out to cause something that bad.
I find it in extremely poor taste that Jenner has shown so little remorse and instead hit the talk circuits about how happy she is. She just took a life. How is she not more scarred?
You are saying things that have
not been stated in a final report. The report is still under investigation and has not been released. While Jenner’s
car did hit Howe’s it has been
reported that car #1 stopped
in 55 mph traffic to try and
make an illegal U turn. Secondly, Jenner can not publicly
comment due to the ongoing investigation. It is not fair to assume Jenner does not have remorse. She is undergoing a
lot of therapy and we have no
idea if Jenner is dealing with the trauma of the accident privately. Judgement should be held until the final report is released.
Exactly. Like, come on. Anyone can cause an accident. I get the woman should be highlighted in the article but there is no reason to go over the edge to vilify Jenner.
It’s tragic that Kim died in an accident and she deserves to be memorialized. That being said unless something new comes out I don’t think its right to attack Caitlyn for something that could happen to anyone. Roads are treacherous and a horrible accident can happen in a flash.
^agreed.
I don’t think it’s necessary to throw shade on *anyone* in order that ‘highlight’ another person. IMHO, it cheapens the entire piece.
This was clearly a cheap shot by the DB. 😢
If you rear-end anyone, you are pretty much always at fault, since you are supposed to be driving at a distance where you can stop in time. However, I would say most of the population drives closer than you are supposed to (one car length for every 10 mph) and it is easy to be distracted by your thoughts, or something flashing. All I am saying is that, it can both be Jenner’s fault, and at the same time not a reflection of horrible, immoral, dangerous behavior.
^ Exactly this
There will be civil liability found against Jenner, hence the civil lawsuits. The actions may not be criminal, but towing an ATV requires additional care and if you are smoking and driving, you are probably not as focused on driving as you should be.
The photo in the car is definitely insensitive though.
All due respect to the deceased but I don’t think too many people would intentionally cause a car accident. Even if Caitlyn did cause the accident, she didn’t do it purposefully, either. Sure, factors exist that lead to blame but that statement was just silly. An accident is, by its very definition, unintentional.
Exactly. It was an accident. That being said, my sympathy initially was with Caitlyn, but after seeing photographs in the days/weeks following where she was talking on her phone while driving, it seems like she didn’t really learn anything about distracted driving at all. One would think she would have been extra careful and extra diligent about following the laws.
As for PMK making her narcissistic, I think that is unfair. From what has been said by the first wife and kids, I think Bruce was pretty narcissistic all along, well before he met and married Kris. I’m sure she didn’t help and probably brought out the worst tendencies, but she’s not at fault for all of it.
Agreed. Someone else can’t cause someone to become narcissistic. That’s just silly. Narcissism is a personality disorder. You don’t “catch” it from someone.
It was totally insensitive for Bruce to choose her coming out to be photographed in a car. I don’t expect better of her/him though. Once a jerk always a jerk.
Agree on the Kris Jenner front. It seemed like an unnecessary jab. Some people would blame her for the weather if they could.
Didn’t a metro bus coming in the opposite direction film Caitlyn hitting both cars? She was driving a very heavy Escalade, towing a car (in the left lane which is illegal in CA unless passing) which is a lot of moving mass. She very easily could push a car into traffic and then continue and slam into the Prius.
That’s what I thought too. But the reporting was from TMZ, I think, so who knows?
Didn’t something come out that said Howe was driving with a suspended license? Not that it really matters, I guess. It is really unfortunate what happened.
Her CA license had lapsed and they reported that fact heavily but it came out later that she was driving with a valid Arizona license which she had because she also had property in AZ.
if only she wasn’t photographed talking on her cell, just after the “accident”
that, to me, speaks volumes. this is a person who, this time, caused a death. it’s not the first, nor the last, time that she will be negligent behind the wheel, it’s just unfortunate that this time someone had to die, and she still did not learn.
following too closely, not maintaining a safe breaking distance, IS being the cause of an “accident”. it’s negligence, while supposedly being in control of something that can, and has, killed.
The first thing most people would do after an accident would be to call someone for various reasons. That’s the first thing I did after my accident years ago because I was shaken up, wasn’t going to be able to get to where I was planning to be, and needed a ride.
I think you are being way too harsh.
I think there were pictures of Caitlyn talking on the phone while driving taken a few days after this accident. That showed she really didn’t learn anything or just doesn’t care.
mea culpa
my post was blurry. Talking on her cell, while driving, a few weeks after the accident.
thanks MP for the clarification.
I am Gonna Agree with Most of you guyses So far, It’s Nice that They are Memorializing the lady who lost her life and painting a fuller picture of her but This was an accident, no one went out with the intention of causing harm let alone kill someone
The car who rear ends someone is always responsible but I find the quote:“She wouldn’t in a million years have caused an accident,” a little ridiculous. No one plans on having a car crash, that is why they call it an accident.
I wasn’t part of that accident but when I saw Jenner in the car in that red dress I IMMEDIATELY thought about the accident, so why didn’t she? I think it’s further evidence of Jenner’s narcissism, she doesn’t seem to think about anyone but herself. It’s like she was so hellbent on living the fantasy of “the lady driving a car with big glasses and her hair in the wind” that that she didn’t even give a thought to the person who died. Anyways, an accident can happen to anyone even to the lady who died so that quote is just ridiculous.
Umm, so is she supposed to just not go anywhere near cars, because it will be deemed insensitive? “Gasp! Caitlyn just walked by a car. How dare she!”
…yeah…cause driving in a car or walking past the car is the same as intentionally posing it one for a magazine shoot – GASP!
It was an accident and Jenner has not been charged with any wrong doing. Two civil suits jumping to file with an open investigation and no findings as yet of fault only means one thing to me……KA CHING payoff. And this is a miserable thing….people attempting to cash out simply because Jenner was involved.
I’ve become disillusioned with Jenner because of how she has handled her own KA CHING with the coming out. But I’m not in a rush to blame her in anyway for an accident….and if she is found to be “at fault”, I guarantee you I still won’t rush to blame. Most of us have had accidents, and many of us were “at fault”. THe death of a woman makes this one all the more horrific to all involved but there was not intent and Jenner did not have a motor vehicle record of carelessness.
Accident, people. Accident.
The point is that Caitlyn has appeared unbothered by it all. It was an accident and someone died. Should I wear the bustier or the red shouderless?
Anyone have a car accident where there is any sort of property loss or damage?
What happens if fault is disputed?
Your insurance company sues their insurance company. But the legal paperwork of that suit lists you versus them as individuals. And then the insurance companies represent each party. That is how a claim is made and decided.
Same thing happens when there is an injury resulting from the crash. So if two separate parties are injured, there are two suits.
I don’t know why the media chooses to scandalize this. This is what happens. In this case, a death occurred. Of course there was a lawsuit! And the insurance companies will resolve it. There is a minimum injury/death coverage in everyone’s policy in the state of California!
And as for the “Caitlyn seems to have already found herself not guilty” comment, what is the first rule your insurance company tells you when you’ve had a car accident?
DO NOT ADMIT FAULT.
The entire conversation is sensationalism at its worst. It gets coverage because Bruce is famous. Sadly, there are traffic fatalities on California roads all the time, and the exact same things happen in the exact same way.
How about we let the insurance companies thrash it out and determined what happened and who is at fault in this tragic accident, and butt the hell out?
Why not denigrate Caitlyn? She’s a wastrel and without character or conscience. She’s left a wake of destruction behind her and continues to do so.
I just don’t understand why we are all calling him “she”???? despite all the surgery and cosmetic hocus-pocus he still has male genitalia. he does however not have reproductive female organs such as ovaries and a uterus. I guess money can buy you anything, except for class and dignity, which Caitlyn does not possess an ounce of. shame on Bruce, yes, BRUCE? for doing this for publicity and narcissistic reasons. all that money could have saved lives or helped people in need or at least paid for a decent shrink.