A New York man has been charged with drunk driving following a car crash that took the life of his passenger on Oct. 4. The incident occurred shortly before 6 a.m. in Brentwood.
According to Suffolk Country police, the 27-year-old man was driving his Lincoln Town Car south on Grand Boulevard near Noble Street when his vehicle left the road and struck a tree. The man, who lives in Shirley, was seriously injured and taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. His passenger, a 29-year-old Brentwood man, was also transported to Southside where he was pronounced dead. The driver was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10,322 people were killed in drunk driving car accidents in the United States in 2012, with an average of one death occurring every 51 minutes. Those fatalities accounted for almost a third of all traffic deaths in the country that year.
The family members of those killed in drunk driving car accidents not only have to deal with emotional devastation, but also face significant financial losses. In addition to the loss of companionship, the family may be left with large medical bills and funeral and burial expenses. If the accident victim was a family’s breadwinner, they must also deal with lost wages and benefits. Those who have lost a loved one in an alcohol-related crash might want to seek the advice of an attorney. A lawyer could use police reports, blood-alcohol tests and evidence from the accident scene to establish that a driver was negligent in a victim’s death.
Source: Newsday, “Cops: Passenger killed, DWI driver arrested in single-care crash in Brentwood,” Nicole Fuller, Oct. 4, 2014
Source: Traffic Safety Facts 2012 Data, “Alcohol-Impaired Driving,” U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, December 2013
Source: CBS New York, “Police: Drunk Driver Crashes Car, Kills Passenger On L.I.“, October 04, 2014