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A Mother's Battle for Justice
 Brian Chase championed the case for a seat-back defect that took the life of little Crystal 16 years ago. Her mother continues to battle that fight today to ensure no more children die from flimsy seats in vehicles. On July 14, 2000, Stephanie Collins’s life changed. Her daughter Crystal was sitting in the rear passenger seat of their Ford Escort right behind Collins.
Collins Mother pulled over to the side of the street to make way for an approaching ambulance. A Honda Civic rear-ended their Escort at less than 30 mph.
They hardly felt any impact from the crash. It was a fender bender that didn’t even break her car’s taillight bulbs.
But, when Collins turned around, Crystal’s usually bright blue eyes were black and opened wide.
She had suffered fatal internal bleeding after the Escort’s front seat seatback (with Collins sitting in it) slammed back and struck Crystal’s chest. The blow proved fatal and Crystal died a month before her 8th birthday.
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