Nearly a year to the day after a fatal crash in front of a popular ice cream parlor in Southern California a bill "designed to protect the public from storefront and restaurant crashes" was announced.
Michael Fleming, CEO of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor in Buena Park, spoke at a 11 a.m. news conference Friday, along with family members of 71-year-old Marisa Malin and city officials.
Fleming announced the participation of the California Restaurant Association in support of AB764 to promote the use of protective barriers in front of buildings where the public was at risk.
The announcement comes on the eve of the one year anniversary when an elderly man attempting to park in front of Farrell's accelerated and crashed into a line of patrons waiting to enter the restaurant. Malin, who was intially reported as 73 years old by the coroner, was hit in the crash and died later at a hospital from her injuries.
A witness at the scene told NBC4 in 2014 that the man may have accidentally hit the gas when he was trying to park.
Malin's son-in-law, Victor Manalo, and granddaughter Amanda also spoke at the news conference. The crash critically injured Manalo's daughter Isabel and hurt his two other children. A total of six people were injured, including two adults and three children.
Victor is a councilman in the city of Artestia. Since loosing Malin, he helped pass ordinance mandating safer parking lots.
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Rembering her grandmother, Amanda said, "I think she definitely was fun, life joy. Definitely that's what she was all about."
The driver was not hurt in the crash, officials said.
Fleming showed off the pylons in front of his restaurant that were installed after the crash.
He said the collision shocked his employees, who ran to help the injured patrons.
According to the Storefront Safety Council, similar scenes like the one Malin was killed in are play out 60 times a day in the US, killing 500 people a year.
"A wheel stop is all that's between vulnerable people and a car and as we all know wheel stops don't really stop cars. They go over them all the time." Rob Reiter said, from the Storefront Safety Council.
The bill would not mandate restaurants owners to use protective barriers, whether it would encourage them to use them. The trade off would be a discount on insurance.
