Eight people killed,12 injured in California desert off-road race crash.

A lawyer says an agreement has been reached to pay $5.8 million to the families of eight people killed and 12 injured in a California desert off-road race crash.Attorney Katherine Harvey-Lee said Wednesday an agreement was reached in mediation with federal government lawyers.Harvey-Lee says the agreement still must be approved by the Department of Justice and signed off by a judge. She says she represents three injured spectators and the father of one of those killed.
Under the agreement, she says the Bureau of Land Management would pay $4.825 million and race organizers and promoters would pay their $1 million insurance policy limit.
The deadly racing crash occurred in August 2010 in the Mojave Desert when a modified Ford Ranger truck crashed through spectators at the California 200 desert race. The truck hurled over a jump and struck a group of fans, pinning some underneath the vehicle, while sending others flying into a cloud of dust.Of the eight spectators killed, four victims were from San Diego: Michael Dickinson, 34, of Spring Valley; Escondido resident Brian Wolfin, 27; Escondido resident Anthony Sanchez; 23; and Escondido resident Aaron Farkas, 25.Several more spectators were injured in the horrific crash.The crowd, which included children, was standing within 10 feet of the track with no guardrails separating them from the speeding vehicles, an investigation revealed.
In the wake of the deadly accident, California’s U.S. senators pressed the Bureau of Land Management to provide data on off-road racing on public lands, including safety violations in past races.