The nurse who was responsible for the horrific 90mph multiple collision crash which killed six people in LA earlier this month had revealed she was suffering from “frightening” mental health issues before the accident.
Nicole Linton, 37, was charged with murder by the LAPD after she was caught on CCTV hurtling down an LA street at around 90mph, running a stop light before smashing side-long into traffic crossing an intersection.
The crash was so severe that witnesses thought a bomb had detonated in the street and some of the vehicles involved were so badly burned that they ceased to resemble cars at all.
Six were killed in total including a pregnant mother, her unborn child, and one-year-old son, but now the reckless nurse’s attorneys have said that she had been under an altered mental state at the time of the crash and had been experiencing an “apparent lapse of consciousness”.
Linton is currently being held by police on murder charges without bail as cops believe the nurse, who is originally from Texas, could be a danger to the public, although it is not clear as to whether or not this is because of her alleged mental health problems.
Update: The woman who caused yesterday’s deadly crash on La Brea and Slauson in Windsor Hills has been identified as 37-year-old Nicole L. Linton, a nurse from Texas. She will be booked once released from the hospital. Confirmed by CHP and her family members. #Slauson #LaBrea pic.twitter.com/Q6uFUkYueI
— kingly is Royalty (@KinglyisRoyalty) August 5, 2022
Her lawyers have told the court that Linton had been losing control over the past four years and had “no recollection” of the event.
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The court document issued by her attorney states that she had been formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2018 and had refused to take her prescribed medication during the Covid pandemic because an online doctor had told her she was just suffering from generalized anxiety.
Just hours before the deadly pile-up, the document claims Linton had Facetimed her sister, Camille completely naked and her mental health had deteriorated to a “frightening” level.
Camille explained that her sister’s mental health had been problematic for some time and that she had first experienced major issues while studying to become a nurse anesthetist in Houston, Texas:
“The stress was too much for her and it ‘broke’ her,” wrote Camille. “Thus beginning the journey of Nicole’s 4-year struggle with mental illness.”
You can see the tweet of the accident here.
She explained how while studying at the University of Texas in 2018, her sister had suffered a major breakdown and had run out of her apartment completely frantic.
When police approached, Linton climbed onto the roof of a cop car and she was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Days later, Linton had called her family to say that she believed she was “possessed” by her dead grandmother. She was admitted to hospital a few days later after banging her head on a glass door.
As medics stitched the gash to her head, Linton’s attorneys say she sang Bob Marley songs and seemed out of touch with reality.
By 2020, the document reveals that Linton’s mental health had hit rock bottom and she had become “increasingly frightening” to those around her.
Linton become paranoid and began to rant about her family supposedly stealing from her and became obsessive about cleaning.
Her mental decline continued right up until the August 4 crash:
“In the days and hours leading up to the events of August 4, Nicole’s behavior became increasingly frightening,” reads the document.
Just a few hours before the crash, Linton Facetimed her sister completely naked. She then went back to work, before calling her sister again:
“She told her sister that she was flying out to meet her in Houston the next day so she could do her niece’s hair,” reveals the document. Linton had also told her sister that she was getting married and that she should “meet her at the altar”.
“The next thing she recalled was lying on the pavement and seeing that her car was on fire.”