Plano Injury Lawyer Blog

As reported by Fox 4 News, a Fort Worth man who was a drunken driver involved in a crash that did not injure anyone is going to prison for 8 years due to a car accident in 2010.
Back in December 2010, Max Voltmann smashed into a parked car near his Fort Worth Home, which resulted in a four- vehicle chain reaction car wreck. Luckily all cars were empty and no one was injured. Tests later revealed Voltmann's blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit, and also showed he had marijuana in his system. The legal limit for Blood Alcohol concentration is 0.08. Although he might have only served a couple of days in jail and paid a fine for drunk driving except that he killed a man and injured two other people 14 years ago while doing the exact same thing. On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes.

Police said that during the crash 20 years ago, he was driving drunk while running from Dallas police. He hit a seminary student from Ghana, Wilfred Sewodie. Sedowie was killed instantly and his passenger and a driver from another car were injured. Voltman's punishment was 10 years of probation. As stated by Torch.com, 50% to 70% of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive on a suspended license.

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As reported by Scott Goldstein of Dallas Morning News, another unfortunate accident is related to alcohol. There were three different people involved all in seperate cars. Witnesses stated that that Sean Mackey, 24, drove his car into another car along the northbound express way heading towards Royal lane. Dallas officers had arrived at the scene, shortly after Charles Bowers, 46, drove his car into the back of the Dallas police car. The officer's car was parked at the initial accident scene with emergency lights flashing. Police stated that Bowers reeked of alcohol, and refused to provide a breath or blood sample.

Not long after the police car was struck by Bowers, the Dallas officer spotted a motorist drive a van through the traffic flares and cones. Guillermo Salinas,26, was behind the wheel and he to reeked of alcohol, according to police. Mackey, Bowers, and Salinas were all arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. Mackey had told police that he drank "pretty much" three vodka and Diet Cokes.

Continue reading "Another Unfortunate Accident Is Related To Alcohol" »

A Texas Tech student, Brian Cody Hawthorne was indicted on three counts of intoxication manslaughter and three counts of aggravated assault after a fatal car accident that left three people dead. Hawthorne was arrested and charged on Thursday, February 2, 2012 immediately following his release from the hospital.
Lubbock police say Hawthorne was heading south on the 500 block of Univeristy Avenue the night of the accident. The arrest warrent stated that a witness saw Hawthorne driving at a high speed, lose control, and roll the truck. Witnesses say the truck struck 68 year-old Courtland Whitmore who was riding his bicycle home from work. Whitmore died on impact.
The truck, flipped on its passenger side and continued to slide down the sidewalk hitting a fire hydrant. The hydrant went through the windshield hitting the front seat passenger , Arturo Almaguer. The hyrdrant then went into the back seat kiling Kendrick Johnson, a second passenger.

Continue reading "Student Indicted For Intoxication Manslaughter" »

On June 9,2009 Manuel Clerkley was the drunk driver in a fatal accident which resulted in the death of his niece Michelle Coaster, a mother of two. Almost three years after the incident Clerkley was sentenced to life in prison. He received such a harsh punishment because of prior criminal history.

A witness who was stopped at the traffic signal at the intersection near where the collision occurred described Clerkley's car as going out of control and crossing the southbound lanes of the highway before going off of the highway and hitting a tree head on. Coaster was taken to East Texas Medical Center and a few hours later was pronounced dead. Clerkley was taken to the trauma unit of East Texas Medical Center where he was treated and released a week later.

Continue reading "Life In Prison For A Deadly Car Crash In 2009" »

As reported by the Dallas Morning News at a meeting of the National Transportation Safety board, it was noted that Texas is ranked as one of the top 10 states that have done the least to prevent alcohol-related traffic fatalities. The state has only implemented 4 out of 11 of the federal agency's recommendations to terminate "hard core" drunken driving. Texas is known for having one of the highest proportions of drunken driving deaths in the country
In the year 2009, there were a total of 3,071 deaths just alone from alcohol related accidents in the Plano/Dallas area, which involved drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 or greater. Over 40 percent of all crashes in the state involved a drunk driver, the fifth highest rate in the country. "The number of deaths associated with drunk driving is far too high, completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated," said NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) member Mark Rosekind.
Some advocates have suggested that they lower the limit for legal blood-alcohol levels when driving. There has also been discussion on taking the driver's licenses away for the first DWI offense. Out of the 11 recommendations, Texas is currently acting on 4 recommendations. The NTSB considers adoption of 8 to be an acceptable response.

Continue reading "Federal Agency Says Texas Among Worst States At Preventing Drunken Driving Fatalities" »

New legislation in favor of DWI Road Blocks in Texas is a hot topic these days. It's referred to as House Bill 439. On one hand, you have many proponents in our state who qualify their support, with self-righteous statements like, "If I don't have anything to hide, I don't mind being pulled over. Nobody should." Then on the other hand, there are strict-constructionists of the Constitution, who believe a man should lay down his life to avoid a seemingly unconstitutional search, or any search for that matter.

The Dallas Morning News reported the history of this bill, and how it may now be at a point that it gets passed.

Austin publication, We Are Austin, reported that Texas is currently one of twelve states that does not allow sobriety checkpoints.

As House Bill 439 is written, it would allow police to set up checkpoints in counties with populations greater than 250,000.

This is the fifth time State Representative Todd Smith of Euless has introduced such a bill. He believes his best chance to pass it will be next month when the legislature reconvenes. "This about ensuring that drivers are sober when they are driving on our streets," Smith said.

Critics argue checkpoints wind up bothering people that did nothing wrong.

Continue reading "Texas DWI Roadblocks Unconstitutional & Dangerous" »