DUI Motorcycle Fatality Kills One
Oct 12, 2012
Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) October 11, 2012 – Drinking and driving a car is illegal. Drinking and driving a motorcycle is as well.
“This case really gets under your skin, because the man who killed his motorcycle passenger should have known better. He was a former Sheriff’s deputy, with 15 years of service, and was out hooting it up on his ride, while DUI, lost control, went into a slide and dumped his passenger. She sustained severe head and neck trauma, and died the next day,” explained Bobby Lee, an Austin personal injury attorney of Lee, Gober and Reyna in Austin, Texas.
The smart thing would have been not to get on his bike, and not take along a passenger, not when he was three sheets to the wind. If he wanted to ride drunk on his own, that was up to him. Riding drunk with someone else on the bike was unforgivable. “His reckless disregard for anothers life was horrific,” Lee added. “When the police were informed of the young woman’s death, he was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and murder.”
Just shortly after the fatal crash, the police took blood levels from the man, while he was at the hospital. His blood alcohol level was well about the legal limit. The only question that arose from this case was what the man should be charged with, and whether or not one of those charges should be murder. He was ultimately charged with murder, largely because the investigation into the accident revealed he had been speeding at the time of the wreck.
“To determine the nature of the charges in this case, the police would take at least four factors into consideration: the blood alcohol level (BAC), any pre-drinking intentions to drive, was the individual aware of the risk of DWI/DUI and were they driving dangerously,” Lee explained. The man indicated before he started drinking, that he had every intention of driving home later. His BAC was above the legal limit and there were indications he was driving recklessly.
Another interesting point about this case is that the man was a former police officer, and as such, would have known better than to drink and drive. This indicates a higher level of responsibility on his part, for not behaving in the manner in which he did: but for his choice to drink, drive and speed, his passenger would still be alive.
Drunken driving cases are hard on everyone, and the victim’s family is left with the frozen silence of a voice they will never hear again, a smile forever gone and a laugh that has been silenced. The greatest horror a family can face is losing their children before they die. To find justice, seek experienced and compassionate legal counsel from a personal injury lawyer.
To learn more, visit Austin personal injury lawyer and http://www.rwleelaw.com.
Lee, Gober and Reyna
11824 Jollyville Road, Suite 302
Austin, Texas 78759
Phone: 512.478.8080
