by Laurie Merrill - Oct. 29, 2011 07:24 AM
The Arizona Republic
The shattered life of car-crash survivor Jesse Ramirez Jr. life took a turn for the better Thursday, he said, when he learned his 4½-year-old case was headed for prosecutorial review.
The Chandler Police Department referred the report on the May 2007 single-car accident to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, though found no cause for criminal charges.
For Ramirez, any movement on the case is good news.
"I am so glad they are going to review this," said Ramirez, 40, now of Maricopa.. "I am so happy the legal system is working."
It is the latest development in the life of Ramirez, formerly of Chandler. His life has seen much misery since the day his Toyota Sequoia went out of control at South Cooper Road and East Via de Palmas, rolled over at least twice and smashed more than 100 pots in a yard. Ramirez and his then-wife, Rebecca, 37, were ejected.
Eight days after undergoing 13 hours of brain surgery, he seemed near death. His wife moved him to a hospice on the ninth day and ordered caregivers to withhold food, water and medicine, according to records.
Members of his immediate family - who he now says robbed him of disability dollars - took her to court, and a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered the tubes reconnected.
He spent much of the last four years in rehabilitation centers and remains blind.
His wife has remarried, his children have avoided him for years, and his family in 2008 stole an estimated $22,220 in disability funds, he says.
Ramirez had to retire from his job as a postal worker and collects veterans disability because the accident left him blind and arthritic. Gulf war syndrome makes sleep elusive, depresses him and plagues him with headaches.
Over the past year or so, Ramirez has filed complaints against his family members and his ex-wife at various police departments.
He has been phoning and pressuring Chandler police to charge his ex-wife with attempted murder.
Earlier this week, he complained that Chandler police never visited him in the hospital and won't charge his ex-wife.
"They told me the case was closed," Ramirez said. "It should have been opened."
Later this week, Chandler police said they delivered the report on the 2007 accident to the prosecutor's office.
Chandler police, however, did not recommend filing criminal charges. Though Ramirez had largely recovered from injuries by August 2008, he didn't begin asking for charges against his ex-wife for another six months, police said.
Each person in the car on May 30, 2007, blamed the other for the accident. Rebecca said Ramirez had lost his temper and was shouting and hitting the rear-view mirror when he lost control.
She was so afraid, she told police, that she had unbuckled her seat belt and planned to jump out of the car driven by her husband, whom she described as controlling and depressed.
Ramirez told police that he stopped Rebecca from jumping out of the car, and she grabbed the wheel and yanked it to the right, causing the crash.
"After reviewing the physical evidence, all statements including witnesses, Rebecca and Ramirez, I found no probable cause for any criminal charges," the officer wrote in the report.
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