DUI Charges for Driver Involved in Fatal April Crash of Last Year

The Florida Highway Patrol has arrested a person believed to be responsible for a multi-vehicle collision in Lake County that resulted in the death of a motorcyclist in April of last year. According to this update to an older story, the initial incident took place in Lake County, shortly after midnight, on the 1st of April, 2018.

A 24-year-old person was behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer and traveling in a western direction when they approached a line of stopped traffic. For reasons that were not immediately clear, the driver of the explorer either failed to see the traffic or was not aware that they were approaching at such a high rate of speed. This resulted in the Explorer colliding with the vehicle directly in front of it. That vehicle happened to be a motorcycle.

Collisions between motorcycles and cars are especially dangerous for the person on the motorcycle. Given the lack of surrounding protection, the cyclist is fully exposed to everything in the environment. In the crash mentioned here, the force of the Explorer hitting the back of the motorcycle pushed the bike and its rider forward into the rear of the car before them. This meant that the motorcyclist was now trapped between two cars without anything to prevent their body from coming into contact with the metal, plastic, and glass all around them.

Emergency response crews rushed the motorcyclist to Waterman Hospital, but there was nothing that the medical facility could do for them, and they were pronounced dead sometime after arriving.

The driver of the Explorer was transported from the scene to Central Florida Regional Hospital. There, a sample of their blood was taken. This person also told the authorities that they had consumed alcohol prior to the collision. When the bloodwork came back, it was discovered that the driver of the Explorer was operating the vehicle with a BAC of 0.144, almost two times the legal limit.

This past Monday, the 28th of January, the driver of the Explorer was arrested and charged with numerous offenses in eluding DUI, Negligent Vehicular Manslaughter, and DUI Damage to Property of Person of Another. It is not known if this individual has a lawyer at this time or what sort of plea they are expected to file.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.