General Hospital star Haley Pullos has denied responsibility for a horror highway crash, even though she was reportedly driving drunk on the wrong side of the road.
Instead, she claims the man whose car she crashed into is to blame, even as she prepares to admit she has been charged with driving under the influence.
Pullos hit the other car so hard that she had to be pulled from the mangled wreckage with the “jaws of life” by firefighters on the 134 Freeway in Pasadena, California.
Police claimed she was involved in a separate collision shortly before the crash on April 29 last year and was driving on the wrong side of the highway.
General Hospital star Haley Pullos has denied responsibility for a horror freeway crash, even though she was driving drunk on the wrong side of the road
After the crash, California Highway Patrol and Pasadena fire officials released photos of the aftermath, showing the cars of both Pullos and the 23-year-old victim completely totaled and sprawled along Arroyo Seco Parkway.
The 25-year-old has pleaded not guilty to drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident, but her lawyers are working on a plea deal. She faces a prison sentence of up to three years.
Courtney Wilder, the driver of the other car, sued Pullos after he suffered serious injuries in the crash and was rushed to the hospital.
Pullos’ defense in the lawsuit denied “generally and specifically each allegation” and maintained that Wilder was the negligent one.
Pullos wore a brace on her ankle for several weeks after the crash
Her attorneys argued that the crash was “proximately caused by plaintiffs’ sole negligent and/or intentional conduct.”
Should any damages be awarded to Wilder, they should be “reduced by an amount proportionate to the amount by which the plaintiffs’ negligent and/or intentional conduct contributed to the alleged harm,” they claimed.
Pullos’ defense also denied that Wilder “has suffered or will suffer any loss or damage in the manner or amount alleged.”
The document also alleged that his injuries were “caused in whole or in part, intentionally or negligently, by any person, firm, corporation or entity” beyond Pullos’ control.
She demanded that the lawsuit be dismissed and that Wilder be ordered to pay her legal fees, along with “other and further damages.”
Wilder accused Pullos in his lawsuit of “attacking” and abusing emergency workers in a “rage” at the scene of the accident, even hitting and yelling at a firefighter for touching her expensive designer shirt.
“Haley Pullos acted maliciously and without any regard for the safety of others, as evidenced by her anger as she was pulled from her vehicle by emergency responders,” Wilder said in a written statement to the court.
Marijuana edibles and tequila bottles were found during a search of Pullos’ white 2019 Ford, which photos show suffered serious damage in the crash
‘She acted maliciously by assaulting the officers, shouting profanities in front of witnesses and targeting those who tried to help her.
“In her fit of rage, Haley Pullos assaulted a firefighter and yelled at him to get his hands off her ‘$400 f**king shirt.’
“Despite having just caused two accidents, one of which resulted in serious, life-threatening injuries, she cared more about her overpriced clothing than the safety and well-being of the victim of her reckless, deliberate and despicable behavior.
“As further evidence of her abhorrent behavior, Haley Pullos continued to fight the medical staff and was forcibly sedated.
“Not only was she driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but she was also drinking behind the wheel, as evidenced by the edible wrappers and empty alcohol bottles found in her car.”
Wilder added Pasadena’s No Comment Lounge — where Pullos was working as a hostess the night of the accident — as a defendant in his civil lawsuit, accusing the popular nightspot of plying her with booze and then making her drive herself home .
He also sued the California Department of Transportation, claiming that the road where the accident occurred was in “dangerous condition.”
Wilder accused Pullos in his lawsuit of “attacking” and abusing emergency workers in a “rage” at the scene of the accident, even hitting and yelling at a firefighter for touching her expensive designer shirt.
If Pullos changes her plea to guilty, prosecutors are more likely to agree to a lesser sentence, resulting in less or no jail time, a suspended sentence or even house arrest.
At a hearing in Pasadena, north of Los Angeles, last month, Judge Terry Smerling heard that the LA district attorney and Pullos’ lawyers were working on a “potential settlement.”
The judge scheduled another hearing for April 8, which he said — after numerous unresolved hearings since last July — “should be the final.”
Deputy District Attorney Melany Avanessians told Judge Smerling that if a plea deal is not reached by April 8, “we will send her to a preliminary hearing,” meaning Pullos would be headed to a full trial.
Pullos — who has played Molly Lansing-Davis on the popular daytime soap opera since she was 11 — was not present at that hearing.
Weeks after the crash, Pullos — whose own injuries have never been revealed in detail — told Soap Opera Digest that she was taking a break from her role on the long-running daytime show to recover from the crash.
“Unfortunately, I was involved in a car accident and I am doing well, but will need some time to recover,” she told the publication at the time. “I’ll be back as soon as possible!”
Soon after, in May 2023, she was spotted by DailyMail.com checking into a luxury rehabilitation center in Malibu.