In some car accidents, the insurance companies divide the fault, equally or unequally, between the two drivers involved in the collision. These accidents are common but minor; in a difficult situation, such as changing lanes in heavy traffic, neither driver reacts quickly enough to prevent a collision. The worst accidents tend to result from “never events,” mistakes so egregious that you would never make them simply because you were an inexperienced driver or were distracted by half a dozen small annoyances or by a phone notification. Accidents where cars collide head-on or veer off the road and crash into stationary objects tend to happen when the driver is traveling much faster than the legal speed limit, is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or some combination of these factors. Consider that the vast majority of car accidents are not fatal, but a third of fatal traffic accidents involve alcohol intoxication. If you were injured in a head-on collision caused by a drunk driver, contact a Santa Fe car accident lawyer.
Man Barely Old Enough to Buy Alcohol Could Face Charges for DWI Manslaughter
In the summer of 2024, Jadyn Mow had not been old enough to legally buy alcohol for very long; he was 22 years old. One evening, he drove his car on Mechem Drive in Ruidoso. Somehow, he lost control of the car and crossed the center lane into the southbound lanes, colliding head-on with another car. The driver of the struck vehicle, George Fitzgibbon, died of his injuries at the scene of the accident. He was 46 years old.
News reports about this accident did not reveal many details. They said that Mow suffered minor injuries and received treatment before being booked into the county jail on drunk driving charges. The KOAT 7 Action News website said that police officers noticed that Mow seemed to be under the influence of alcohol, but it did not say whether Mow took a breathalyzer test and, if he did, what his blood alcohol content (BAC) was. A BAC greater than or equal to 0.8% is considered too drunk to drive and can lead to charges of driving while intoxicated (DWI) even if you do not cause an accident. The news reports also did not indicate which criminal charges, if any, the state filed against Mow. Causing a fatal car accident while drunk can lead to felony charges for DWI manslaughter.
No matter the outcome of the criminal case against Mow, Fitzgibbon’s surviving family members have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court. Mow, the at-fault driver, is the obvious choice of defendant, but bereaved families rarely file wrongful death lawsuits against individuals who cause fatal car accidents, because they usually have nowhere near enough money to pay the compensation that the plaintiffs are seeking. Under New Mexico’s dram shop liability laws, a bar that served alcohol to a drunk driver before he or she caused an accident can be legally responsible for the damages.
Contact Slate Stern About Car Accident Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in car accidents involving a drunk driver in New Mexico. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505) 814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.koat.com/article/new-mexico-dwi-arrest-crash-ruidoso/61008446
Photo by Julian Gentile on Unsplash