When a vehicle turns in front of a biker, the results are usually deadly. This case is no exception to that rule.
This reported case was incredibly heartbreaking for the biker’s family. A young 43-year-old father was out for an early morning ride on his motorcycle when a big rig made an illegal U-turn right in front of him. With nowhere else to go, the biker swerved to avoid hitting the truck, smacked into a curb and slammed into the side of the truck.
If you can believe this, the trucker, aware of what happened, climbed out of his vehicle, looked at the accident scene, then left. He was later tracked down and arrested on suspicion of hit and run and vehicular manslaughter. Can you imagine anyone standing there in the road looking at a serious, and as it turned out, fatally injured person, and instead of helping, runs away? There are no words to describe this type of person.
Does the family of the biker have a wrongful death case? Yes, they do. Not only do they have a wrongful death case, they have grounds for punitive damages given the egregious nature of the trucker’s negligence. What made the trucker take off? This is a question that investigators will be trying to answer. It may have been because he was under the influence, texting while driving, on the phone while driving, inattention or that he had been smoking marijuana. Whatever the reasons, the outcome was the death of a man, who could have still been alive today but for the trucker’s ill advised left U-turn.
There are two components to this case: the first is the criminal charge, which would be dealt with first. Subsequent to that, a civil lawsuit (the wrongful death case) could be filed. The criminal charge would relate to leaving the scene of a crash, which is not only horrifically inhumane, but illegal. In relation to the wrongful death lawsuit that the family may file, they should be able to claim compensation not only from the at-fault trucker, but his employer as well. To get the right kind of legal representation in cases like this, you will need an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer – one who knows the true meaning of justice for victims.
Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.
