Wrong Way Driver Kills Two and Almost Dies

Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) March 9, 2011 – A witness to a fatal crash is haunted by his attempts to try and avert the accident. It did not work and two died.

“It is not too often that when a person sees an accident about to happen that they try and avert it, like one driver did in this case we heard about. It was very early in the morning and a taxi driver was on the highway on the way to pick up a fare, when he noticed a pickup truck speeding the wrong way in the westbound lane. The truck was all over the place and in and out of traffic. It appeared the man behind the wheel was ripping along at about 80 miles per hour,” said Brooks Schuelke, an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke, L.L.P.

The cab driver flashed his headlights as a warning and then frantically tried to call 911. It was too late by then, as the accident had already happened before he had finished hitting the last number 1. As the truck was rounding a curve in the road, it swerved and then careened head-on into another vehicle, without ever hitting the brakes. The hit was a direct head-on, and the impact was ferocious.

“There were two men in the Jeep Cherokee that was hit by the pickup truck. One was 37 years old and the other, 42. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene of this horrific wreck of twisted metal,” Schuelke said. EMS crews thought the pickup truck driver was also dead, but he moved, prompting the ambulance to rush him to the nearest hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

There is not much doubt that the families of the dead men will want to speak to a wrongful death personal injury lawyer about compensation for the loss of their loved ones. It is obvious the pickup truck driver was negligently and recklessly driving the wrong way on a one-way road. “That decision cost two innocent victims their lives. Whether or not drugs or alcohol, texting or distracted driving was the cause, the end result was that the pickup driver’s negligence was the proximate cause of the two men dying that morning,” Schuelke said.

The police report indicated that there will likely be charges pending in this case, although there was no specific mention of what types of charges were being contemplated. If there are criminal charges laid, which is entirely likely, and the man goes to jail, this does not preclude either of the families filing a wrongful death lawsuit. “If you have been in a similar situation, please do not hesitate to contact my office. We will take the time to explain wrongful death lawsuits to you and help you through the legal process,” Schuelke said.

To learn more or to contact an Austin personal injury lawyer or Austin personal injury attorney, visit http://www.civtrial.com.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP
1717 W. 6th Street, Suite 375
Austin, Texas 78703-4868
Call (512) 476-4944