Editing Howard Hughes (section)

=== 1936 automobile accident ===

On July 11, 1936, Hughes struck and killed a pedestrian named Gabriel S. Meyer with his car at the corner of 3rd Street and Lorraine in Los Angeles.<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/483044492.html?dids=483044492:483044492&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+12%2C+1936&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=HOWARD+HUGHES'+AUTO+KILLS+MAN+IN+HOLLYWOOD&pqatl=google "Howard Hughes' auto kills man in Hollywood."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107161839/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/483044492.html?dids=483044492%3A483044492&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE%3AAI&type=historic&date=Jul+12%2C+1936&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=HOWARD+HUGHES%27+AUTO+KILLS+MAN+IN+HOLLYWOOD&pqatl=google |date=November 7, 2012 }} ''Chicago Tribune'', July 12, 1936. Retrieved: December 13, 2009.</ref> After the crash, Hughes was taken to the hospital and certified as sober, but an attending doctor made a note that Hughes had been drinking. A witness to the crash told police that Hughes was driving erratically and too fast and that Meyer had been standing in the safety zone of a streetcar stop. Hughes was booked on suspicion of [[negligent homicide]] and held overnight in jail until his attorney, [[Neil S. McCarthy]], obtained a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' for his release pending a coroner's inquest.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120725093952/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/402103021.html?dids=402103021:402103021&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+13%2C+1936&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Sportsman+Arrested+After+Traffic+Death&pqatl=google "Sportsman Arrested After Traffic Death."] ''Los Angeles Times'', July 13, 1936. Retrieved: December 13, 2009.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120725053700/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/460156432.html?dids=460156432:460156432&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+13%2C+1936&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=HOWARD+HUGHES+FACING+HEARING+IN+AUTO+DEATH&pqatl=google "Howard Hughes facing hearing in auto death."] ''Chicago Tribune'', July 12, 1936. Retrieved: December 13, 2009.</ref> By the time of the coroner's inquiry, however, the witness had changed his story and claimed that Meyer had moved directly in front of Hughes' car. Nancy Bayly (Watts), who was in the car with Hughes at the time of the crash, corroborated this version of the story. On July 16, 1936, Hughes was held blameless by a coroner's jury at the inquest into Meyer's death.<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/402113781.html?dids=402113781:402113781&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+16%2C+1936&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Millionaire+Flyer+and+Society+Girl+Testify+at+Inquest&pqatl=google "Millionaire Flyer and Society Girl testify at Inquest."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107161900/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/402113781.html?dids=402113781:402113781&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+16%2C+1936&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Millionaire+Flyer+and+Society+Girl+Testify+at+Inquest&pqatl=google |date=November 7, 2012 }} ''Los Angeles Times'', July 13, 1936. Retrieved: December 13, 2009.</ref> Hughes told reporters outside the inquiry, "I was driving slowly and a man stepped out of the darkness in front of me".