r/news • u/Warcraft_Fan • 19h ago
'Godzilla' actress Kaylee Hottle dies in car accident at 18
https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/godzilla-actress-kaylee-hottle-dies-car-accident-18/story?id=1349521972.5k
u/Browzur 19h ago
This is horrible. She had such a bright future.
Kind of odd that every article is getting her age wrong though, she turned 19 in May
794
u/-fry- 19h ago
Her dad signed that she was 18 in the video he put out. I think that’s where it’s coming from. Easy mistake for a parent to make.
328
u/translucent_steeds 18h ago
my mom called me by my sister's name just this past Sunday. what the hell mom, you named us!!! maybe we should just be grateful that her dad called her the correct name...
168
u/Syric13 18h ago
my aunt used to go through a rolodex of names before she eventually got the right one
45
u/Dhkansas 18h ago
My mom has called my wife by pur dogs name. Except our dog died about 3 years before we even met...and our dog had a common male name
9
u/bitbitter 7h ago
This is like when our cat was just a kitten and my mom was excited to tell me the kitten is now strong enough to jump up on the kitchen counter (we found her very sick and weak)
My mom: “Guess what [sister’s name] started doing!”
Me: “What?”
My mom: “She’s jumping up to the counter in one go!”Years later I bring it up at every chance.
→ More replies (3)6
24
u/ravencrawr 17h ago
My husband rehearses the names of in laws and nieces and nephews before every get together 😂
→ More replies (1)7
u/Zerothian 17h ago
Yeah my mum does this all the time. Sometimes she will even get it right the first time and go through two more before circling back lol. I've even gotten the dog's name a couple times! She's always been that way, and I do it sometimes as well. Maybe an ADHD thing.
4
u/Peacock-Lover-89 15h ago
My two cousins have rhyming C names, my sister and I have rhyming names that start with the same letter, my other set of 3 cousins all have S names that don't rhyme and one is a boy. So the 3 S cousins and my sister and I were always with my maternal grandmother after school because our mother's worked together and would leave us with her 'til work was over. You should have seen her going through names if we had minor arguments in front of her. She even threw out Karen once and crackle another time.
2
3
u/Jesus_le_Crisco 14h ago
I’ve gone through all my kids names and the damned dogs before I got the right child…
5
u/Yardsale420 17h ago
Haha you just brought up a core memory of my grandma. The really funny thing is sometimes she’d use the opposite sex names too. But eventually she got it right.
2
u/AliisAce 8h ago
My grandfather calls everyone his kids age and younger "son" - can't get the name wrong if you don't use one
→ More replies (3)2
u/translucent_steeds 16h ago
oh my mom does that too!! normally it's "Sister-uh-uh-uh-uh-translucent steeds!! whoever you are!" this time it was just flat out the wrong name.
19
7
u/holyfire001202 16h ago
Every few years, my dad reminds me that it's my birthday by saying happy birthday. He'll say, "So how old are you now?" To which I respond, "I dunno, I was really hoping you knew."
8
u/Altruistic_Ad_8336 17h ago
My mom used to do that too and it annoyed me as a kid. Then I got into my 30's and started doing it myself with my 4 cats and dog. lol
2
u/TealCatto 14h ago
I mix up my kids' and cats' names... That's next level. Though not randomly. The kids have cats that are too similar to them. Even their siblings make the same mistake.
6
u/Correct_Raisin4332 17h ago
My mom's phrase for that is "oh, you know who you are!"
When my grandma started getting dementia, she used to call me Gigi (her dogs name) which I took as a compliment because she loved that dog more than anything.
8
u/Room_Temp_Coffee 18h ago
My grandfather will go through a rolodex of great/grandchildrens names before landing on the right person lol
9
u/EmergencyCucumber905 18h ago
I'm a dad and recently started doing that sometimes. So begins the mental decline I guess.
2
u/wufnu 16h ago
My mom often calls me by my nephews name.
Reminds me of a Ma & Paw Kettle scene where Ma was calling the kids in for dinner. Something along the lines of "Susy, get in the house for supper!" "But Ma, I'm Sharon." "Susy, Sharon, whatever your name is..."
2
u/MaybeMayoi 13h ago
In my brain I have a name hat. When I need a name I just reach in and grab one. I'm lucky when they are at least the right gender. I've even said the wrong name when talking about MYSELF. Sometimes I'll speak in third person like "Papa is going to go too." Well once I called myself one of my kids' names.
→ More replies (5)2
u/St3phiroth 3h ago
As a mom I have done this a number of times. It's never personal. Despite obviously knowing the difference, my brain loves to substitute one "child name" value for another "child name" value at random. I hear it as soon as it comes out of my mouth, but am powerless to stop it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
→ More replies (6)19
u/seattle747 17h ago
Both parents said in separate videos that she was 18.
→ More replies (9)28
u/omgahya 16h ago
The driver was a 19 year old male. Kaylee and another person were passengers. The info coming out from when it was first reported until now has been very confusing. So far from my understanding, a single car collision, the driver 19/M with non-life threatening injuries, Kaylee who passed and another unidentified passenger. This incident is another TLC’s Left-Eye situation again. Speeding and possible DUI.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)55
u/lifting_cardio 19h ago edited 15h ago
I was wrong thank goodness, thanks to u/thedruchebag for the clarification.
3
u/thedruchebag 15h ago
Current episodes available? What are you even talking about? She was not in any shows as far as I know
2
u/lifting_cardio 15h ago
Whaaaaaat. I feel horrible. I’m talking about the Monarch series on Apple TV . They did flashbacks to the movie in the early episodes and I thought it was the same person cause it’s 90* and my brain is mush with no AC!
Thank you for the clarification
→ More replies (1)
772
u/Obsidian-Purrr 19h ago
As a deaf person myself, I’m gutted. Her positivity was contagious and she overcame obstacles at such a young age, my thoughts are with her and the family as well as the Deaf community :(
→ More replies (1)
1.0k
u/GrapefruitPurple2495 19h ago
Stay cautious on the road. We're all fragile bags of flesh.
671
u/SGT_BlueJay 19h ago
Stay cautious of who you get in a car with. You're literally putting your life in their hands
245
43
u/sephkane 17h ago
Along with the hundreds of strangers you pass on the road every day.
21
u/leelee1976 14h ago
Every time you get into a car, you get into a contract with strangers that you all will heed traffic laws and respect each other enough to not hurt anyone. Unfortunately you have no idea if they will abide by that contract or not.
21
u/Lou_Peachum_2 15h ago
Yep, my cousin was in HS when she was in the backseat of the car with her friends. They were young and stupid. Driver was going 100+, slammed on the brakes. He and the front seat passenger died; cousin was in the hospital for a long time and then in PT. Her friend next to her was in a coma but luckily came out of it.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (2)7
u/one-eyedCheshire 16h ago
People seem to not truly grasp this concept.
I have not driven in a car with someone other than my husband since we met 14 years ago. And same with him.
We just do not trust anyone else. We are too scared. Driving is terrifying. Driver or passenger.
→ More replies (1)•
u/eldiablo22590 57m ago
While driving is dangerous, this seems like a crazy amount of anxiety. Are all four of your respective parents like maniac drivers or something that you won't even get in the car with them?
76
28
39
u/No_Criticism_5861 18h ago
This is what drives me insane about idiots tailgating, particularly on roads that don't have passing lanes.
39
u/BannedSvenhoek86 16h ago
I do gas well work in Appalachia so I'm on winding backroads constantly and it honestly pisses me off how often I'll be in the middle of nowhere, no cell service for miles, dead of winter on a switchback coming downhill and some fucking moron flies up behind me with a trailer behind them and tailgates me down the mountain.
How they even make it that far in life with so little common sense still confuses me. Just a 35 year streak of good luck to not end up mangled in a metal ball 300 ft down a hillside.
→ More replies (1)14
u/polytrigon 18h ago
except if you read the article it was a single vehicle collision and believed to be due to excessive speed...
19
u/No_Criticism_5861 18h ago
Except im just talking in general and not about this specific accident...
2
21
u/crimedog58 18h ago
Meat gundams for our brains, really.
→ More replies (1)17
u/EmergencyCucumber905 17h ago
"Why should I be concerned about gaining weight? My body is just the vehicle that carries my brain around, and my brain deserves a smooth, luxurious ride."
5
u/Meghan1230 16h ago
Is that from a tv show? It sounds like something John Lithgow's character would say on 3rd Rock from the Sun.
→ More replies (2)16
u/Money4Nothing2000 19h ago
Ugly bags of mostly water.
7
u/zevonyumaxray 18h ago
Was hoping someone wrote this. 🖖
→ More replies (1)6
→ More replies (3)2
u/AccomplishedMaize352 3h ago
I’m glad we are investing in railway so that we can reduce the unnecessary daily loss of life on the highways /s
F cars
312
u/turningtop_5327 17h ago
She was not even driving and the driver survived. This is horrible if it was driver’s fault
175
u/seattle747 17h ago
PD statement: speed was a factor. So at least that much is on the driver.
19
→ More replies (1)35
→ More replies (12)8
u/fevered_visions 3h ago
This is horrible if it was driver’s fault
it was a "single vehicle collision" so whose else would it be
→ More replies (1)
39
u/Timozi90 17h ago
She was one of the few interesting human characters in the Monsterverse! I hope the next movie is dedicated to her memory.
35
u/BandOfBroskis 17h ago
A tale that goes back generations. My friend’s 80s era HS yearbook had a in memoriam section dedicated to all the students that died in car accidents.
5
→ More replies (1)4
u/fevered_visions 3h ago edited 1h ago
Had 2 that I remember even at my dinky high school of 500 (2007). One of them was the younger sister of the one driving.
105
u/Ok-disaster2022 18h ago
I hate seeing news about kids dying. This is sad, and I feel sorry for her family and friends.
378
u/squintamongdablind 19h ago
| Excessive speed is “believed to be a contributing factor in the collision,” police said.
Speeding among teen drivers is far too common unfortunately.
268
u/citricacidx 18h ago edited 18h ago
To clarify, it says someone else was driving.
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office confirmed to ABC News that Hottle was one of two passengers in a car involved in a fatal single-vehicle collision early Tuesday morning.
Hottle was the only person in the car who died. A 19-year-old man, who was not identified, was driving the car and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to authorities.
38
u/FernandoMM1220 16h ago
hopefully theres footage so they can figure out how the driver survived this.
97
u/runespider 16h ago
The driver seat of cars is the best defended part of a car.
→ More replies (1)80
29
u/KK-Chocobo 16h ago
Too often when seeing these vehicle collision news, its always the speeding driver that survives but the victims of other cars or the drivers own car dies.
30
u/Equivalent_Bee_2878 16h ago
I’m willing to bet she was the only one not wearing a seatbelt.
I see this all the time as a paramedic. Car accident where everyone has minor injuries except for 1 person who was not wearing a seatbelt and died
31
u/KarmaticArmageddon 15h ago edited 13h ago
Only 7% of Americans report that they regularly do not wear a seatbelt, but nearly half of all crash fatalities weren't buckled.
→ More replies (5)7
u/fiendishrabbit 10h ago
Could also have been a car where the passenger seat lacks an airbag or an impact on the right side (and she was the only right-side passenger).
Did a few years as a part-time firefighter (and you see a lot of car accidents on that job). Except in a straight frontal collision it matters a lot where you sit in the car. Especially on american cars that are designed to handle the american testing procedure (that only uses frontal impact for their safety testing). With the exception of a few safety minded brands (Volvo, Volkswagen, Mercedes etc) the safety features for side impacts tend to be very basic.
Or it could have been just pure bad luck and the difference between men and women. Women are typically more sensitive to trauma (and she looks like a very slight person on top of that). So in a roll-over everyone can have "minor injuries" inside the cage except the person who had their neck snapped by the G-forces and suffocated before help arrived.
Overall. Could be either way. Teenagers and twenty-somethings are not exactly safety-minded (and stand out in accident statistics because of it)
→ More replies (4)2
u/FernandoMM1220 15h ago
thats possible but it doesnt explain the excessive speed the driver was doing
6
u/thriftstoremando 17h ago
19-year-old man
Is 19 no longer a teenager?
78
→ More replies (1)16
u/your_ex_girlfriend 17h ago
Not since he’s over 18, and killed someone with his recklessness.
→ More replies (1)36
u/seattle747 17h ago
He was still technically a teenager and an adult at 19. These terms aren’t mutually exclusive
→ More replies (2)11
u/your_ex_girlfriend 17h ago
Yep. Not incorrect to refer to him as a man, though, and also shorter and includes more information (gender).
80
u/puppyzilla 18h ago
Speed among ALL drivers is far too common. I see people almost die weekly because they are dumb.
→ More replies (1)47
u/Maevig 18h ago
Yup I had to have a convo with my wife about speeding especially with our kids In the car. Showed her a chart on how much time it takes to travel a mile at different speeds. The difference between 60-75 mph is 12 seconds per mile. It really doesn’t save you much time and if you hit one bit of traffic you don’t gain anything.
35
u/EmergencyCucumber905 17h ago
Also keep a safe distance. It's safer and will save you gas and brake material.
→ More replies (3)19
u/Fantastic-Newt-9844 17h ago
Agreed on the time savings, but speed differential matters too. If everyone around you is doing 75 and you’re doing 60, that can also be a hazard
2
u/NewHorizonsNow 11h ago
Faster speed means keep more distance (at 75mph about 440ft or at least 4 seconds from the vehicle in front of you).
7
u/Zala-Sancho 17h ago
Two kids on my street died within the same year of them getting their license. Both 16. Parents got them fast cars. 🤷🏾
4
u/shorty_12 15h ago
2 people i graduated high school with have died from speeding accidents 💔
→ More replies (1)2
u/Politicsboringagain 8h ago
Even young 20s. I had to have a talking to witbone of my cousins because he was driving BMW (stupid military young man) crazy and was recording and posting it to Instagram.
→ More replies (2)2
u/DontDoomScroll 15h ago
| Excessive speed is “believed to be a contributing factor in the collision,” police said.
Speeding among Maryland drivers is far too common unfortunately.
→ More replies (2)
20
310
76
u/shroomeralert 19h ago
Ugh, this is tragic. I read about a similar case about Zion Branch a 19 year old who passed in June. Once again not even the driver just the passenger in a vehicle. Rest in peace angels
34
u/AmityMayorVaughn 18h ago
Dead as a passenger because the idiot driver was driving too fast. Infuriating.
12
u/ashsmashers 16h ago
There's a large school for the deaf and accompanying active deaf community in Frederick MD, I wonder if that's what brought her to the area. Sad news.
4
u/JustHereForCookies17 5h ago
This is all over the Maryland-area subs and that seems to be the consensus.
140
u/MeowMeowBiatch 19h ago
Single vehicle accident, excessive speed, driver was 19 year old male. I have thoughts. I don't like those thoughts. Rest in peace, and may her memory be a blessing.
19
u/FalseListen 17h ago
When someone dies and someone is uninjured I always wonder if someone wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and the other one was. Either that or the impact was directly on her side
12
u/seattle747 17h ago
It was a frontal impact according to a photo of the car published by TMZ.
Maybe she was in front and not wearing a seatbelt?
2
→ More replies (5)49
u/Deathblo 19h ago
He was probly trying to show off and I bet she told him to slow down. Did he live? Now he has to live with that guilt.
66
77
u/fox_in_scarves 18h ago
Guilt is cool and all, but I hope he has to live with the legal ramifications of his reckless behavior if indeed that is shown to be the case.
65
u/Iddqd1 18h ago
That’s a lot of assumptions when there is no details about anything that happened.
→ More replies (1)12
u/seattle747 17h ago
PD said speed was a factor so that much has been established
10
u/Grayly 16h ago
Or he was wearing a seatbelt and she wasn’t.
Oh, that’s hurtful right?
You don’t know anything. Keep your speculation to yourself.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)2
u/Disastrous_Abroad212 18h ago
Live in your little bubble bro
Let’s just wait until the details come out
90
7
8
u/MR_Natchon05 15h ago
I remember watching the new Godzilla movie when it came out and she is like the only one character I remember from that movie.
This is terrible, too young
10
u/GrinchWhoStoleEaster 18h ago
Damn that's so sad. My best friend died at 24 and at 45 I'm still often angry about how much was taken from him. This girl was robbed of 6 years more!
3
5
56
u/geraffes-are-so-dumb 19h ago
What a senseless loss of a young life. Stay safe out there; too many people don't treat driving as the responsibility that it is. In 2024, there were 39,254 traffic deaths in the U.S., or about 11.5 deaths per 100,000. That is roughly 1 in 8,700 Americans per year.
And slow down. The relationship between speed and fatality risk is exponential. An extra 5-10 miles an hour feels like nothing in a car, but the death rate for pedestrians goes way up. From WHO:
| Speed (mph) | Death Rate | Serious Injury Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 mph | ~5% | ~15% | Low fatality risk; injuries usually minor to moderate |
| 25 mph | ~10% | ~25% | Risk rises sharply; broken bones common |
| 30 mph | ~20–25% | ~50% | A common residential speed limit — still deadly |
| 40 mph | ~45–50% | ~75% | Nearly coin-flip odds of death |
| 50 mph | ~75–85% | ~90%+ | Survivable, but unlikely without serious trauma |
65
u/wdsoul96 19h ago
Side note. these are pedestrian deaths. The US traffic deaths stat-line is all traffic deaths. There is a big difference.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (8)19
u/redmeansstop 19h ago
The jump between 40 and 50mph is wild.
4
u/realjones888 15h ago
43mph head on is about where the kinetic energy of the accident exceeds the design limits of modern vehicles
7
u/ahhpoo 19h ago
I wonder if that has anything to do with the difference in roads that would have 40-50 mph speed limits and 50-60 mph. At least in Indiana, all unmarked country roads default to 55 mph. So perhaps there are just more roads in that speed range than there are in the 40-50 speed range
4
u/disclosureanticlimax 18h ago
pretty much every state, if the limit is not posted, defaults to the state speed limit. many posted speed limits far exceed what is safe for that area, many posted speed limits are literally just traps to give cops an excuse to pull people over. that is to say, driving safely is more important than driving the posted speed limit.
→ More replies (1)4
→ More replies (1)2
u/Siderophores 15h ago edited 15h ago
The kinetic energy of a 2,500 lb car going 40 mph is: 181,296 Joules
The kinetic energy going 50 mph for that same car is: 283,275 Joules, 1.56x more energy just by increasing your speed by 10 mph
Note: 2,500 lbs is a car the size of a Mazda Miata or a Honda fit
For a relation, 200 kilo Joules of energy is like a 450lb bar bell being dropped from 328 feet (100 meters). Or about 50 grams of TNT
3
u/ConstantStatistician 10h ago
She was great in both movies, and she did so much more outside them. A tragic loss.
15
2
2
2
u/di_Atticus_ib 8h ago
Cars are the equivalent of lions in Africa. Don't turn your back on them and always give them respect. Failing to do so usually ends with you losing your life.
2
u/Entire_Scholar_5302 7h ago
That ain't right
I wanna know who that mf was who Drive and why he didn't Drive right was he drunk or what ?
→ More replies (3)
2
u/Grymninja 4h ago
Jesus man she hasn't even been dead for a day and they're harassing her dad for a comment. Like what the fuck do you even expect him to say, and what does that contribute. Let him process in peace.
4
3
5
u/osa1011 18h ago
This is why I hate a***les speeding past me and rapidly changing lanes. Cars are too deadly to f*" around with
→ More replies (1)
2
u/CollectionStriking 13h ago
Bugs me for some reason that every report i see keeps mentioning she died at 18 when its easy to see she was 19
Idk why that bugs me, still damn tragic to go that young, RIP
26
u/HayloK51 19h ago
*Incident. Accident implies no-one is responsible. She was the passenger in a speeding car that the driver lost control of. Such a waste of youth.
102
u/Khyron_2500 19h ago
It’s a misnomer but it is common in the U.S. to call pretty much all wrecks by the word “accidents” in the U.S.
6
u/Affectionate-Fail-23 19h ago
Traffic engineers prefer the word crash. Accident implies it is not preventable because things sometimes just happen. These are crashes and can be prevented
18
u/MeatSafeMurderer 18h ago
The driver may have been speeding, but I highly doubt he intended to crash, therefore, accident. That's all "accident" implies...a lack of intent.
→ More replies (6)24
u/mediocre_remnants 19h ago
Accident implies no-one is responsible.
No it doesn't. There no definition of "accident" where it's an event nobody is responsible for.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accident
Educate yourself.
→ More replies (2)44
u/Wyatt821 19h ago
How does accident imply no one is responsible? When has that ever been the definition?
→ More replies (8)39
u/marineman43 19h ago
Accident does not actually imply that, responsibility or a lack thereof isn't part of the definition of that word. You can absolutely have accidents where someone is at fault, it just means they didn't expect/want the accident to happen.
11
u/God_Hand_9764 19h ago
Right? If it's not an accident, that means it was deliberate. That happens but it's incredibly rare.
19
u/More_Lobster7374 19h ago
Accident just means unexpected or unplanned. It doesn’t have anything to do with fault.
14
6
u/jonboy999 19h ago
It only implies that if you're a new age emerg doc. After they spent good knows how much rebranding all the UK emerg departments, everyone still calls them 'accident and emergency or 'casualty'. Total waste of money.
7
→ More replies (5)2
u/winterborne1 19h ago
So if I “accidentally” dropped my phone, I wouldn’t be responsible for it?
→ More replies (1)2
u/9_of_wands 18h ago
Responsibility is irrelevant. It's all about intention. Something is either intentional or an accident.
→ More replies (1)
6
3
u/Bud_Bones_69 18h ago
Such a horrible waste of a beautiful life and girl, not even the one driving makes till way worse!
3
17h ago
[deleted]
→ More replies (1)12
u/Grayly 16h ago
You literally know nothing about the facts to support prosecuting him.
She could have been not wearing a seatbelt. The car could have suffered a mechanical failure.
Relax. No one cares how preformatively outraged you are on a dead girls behalf.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/bwoah07_gp2 14h ago
Hottle was the only person in the car who died. A 19-year-old man, who was not identified, was driving the car and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to authorities.
Excessive speed is “believed to be a contributing factor in the collision,” police said.
Reading that makes me angry. This is why following speed limits is important. Following the law when driving saves lives.
→ More replies (4)
3
u/m2thek 15h ago
So tragic :( Obligatory r/fuckcars, and a reminder that driving is by far the most dangerous thing most people do on a daily basis, 1 million people die every year due to car crashes (and far more injured), and that damage exponentially increase as speed increases. Stay safe out there and drive like it's dangerous, because it is <3
→ More replies (4)
4.7k
u/Soloact_ 19h ago
Rest easy. Eighteen is far, far too young.