Caitlyn Jenner’s Car Crash Victim Weighs in on Run for California Governor

Taylor Jewell/AP
Taylor Jewell/AP
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A family affected by a fatal car crash six years ago involving Caitlyn Jenner seem to have no hard feelings towards her—and might even toss a vote her way in her bid to become Governor of California.

Lea Wolf-Millesi laughed when she was reached by The Daily Beast for comment on Jenner’s gubernatorial campaign, saying she was still processing the news. As for whether she’d vote for the Olympian, she said, “I don’t know yet! I’m still digesting it.”

Jenner finally announced her long-rumored run on Friday morning, hoping to wrestle the seat from Democrat Gavin Newsom. The 71-year-old has roped in some influential Republican party members and former President Donald Trump’s top advisers, including Tony Fabrizio, Steven Cheung, and Brad Parscale.

Jenner’s right-wing team could help sway the decision of Wolf-Millesi and her husband Peter, a noted pianist and composer, who were seen last January at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort supporting the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, according to photos posted to Facebook.

At any rate, Wolf-Millesi’s lighthearted comments seem to confirm that the family has moved on from the February 2015 four-car pile-up in Malibu, despite the family claiming they sustained serious injuries.

Though Jenner was not criminally charged over the accident, the local sheriff's department determined she was driving her Cadillac Escalade at an “unsafe speed” for the road conditions when she rear-ended 69-year-old widow Kim Howe’s Lexus, pushing her into oncoming traffic. Howe died after crashing head-on into the Wolf-Millesis.

The Daily Beast reached out to Howe’s two stepchildren for comment.

The Wolf-Millesi family sued Jenner over the crash and, in their court papers, listed extensive injuries. In the car was Wolf-Millesi, Peter, their two sons, one who was only a month old, and Wolf-Millesi’s mother, Elga Maurer.

Maurer suffered the worst injuries, including a cervical spine fracture, according to their lawsuit. Wolf-Millesi, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the Hummer H2, said both of her legs were hurt and she had pain in her neck and back. Peter claimed nerves in both his hands and wrists were damaged.

Their infant son was “not responding to stimuli at the scene” so he was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, but ultimately suffered no physical injury.

“We were shocked and terrified we were all going to die,” Peter said in a statement at the time.

“When you’re involved in an accident that claimed the life of someone, you’re just not the same anymore. So many lives have been changed forever,” Wolf-Millesi added.

It was reported in 2018 that Jenner agreed to pay out $800,000 to the family, with Maurer receiving $500,000, Wolf-Millesi and Peter each receiving $100,000, and their sons getting $50,000 each.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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