Fatal car accident kills 2 high schoolers

With many students either out of school or their summer vacation right around the corner, many high schoolers are about to be out driving on Maryland roads. Most teens driving this summer will do so safely. However, between driving to and from summer parties and cheap gas prices leading to more road trips, with more vehicles on the road, there is a greater chance that a car accident will occur.

The driver involved in a fatal crash that occurred this time last summer was recently sentenced for his involvement in the accident. The 19-year-old North Potomac former high school quarterback received a sentence of four years regarding the crash, which killed two of the teen’s friends in June 2015. The accident happened on June 25, after the friends left a party at which they had been drinking.

Police say that, as the vehicle occupants were on their way to another party, the driver was speeding and lost control, slamming into trees and eventually flipping the vehicle. The car was going at such a high rate of speed that it broke into pieces when it collided with the trees. Two 18-year-old boys were killed, while a 16-year-old suffered a serious spinal injury. The driver had a blood alcohol level between .07 and .08 percent, which is considerably higher than .02, the limit for Maryland drivers under 21.

As prosecutors were able to secure a conviction on the criminal charge the teen faced, that conviction may be offered as evidence of negligence in either a wrongful death suit or personal injury suit, should loved ones or the injured teen’s family choose to file one in a Maryland civil court. If successfully navigated, these suits may result in the entries of monetary judgments for documented financial losses related to the accident. When an individual loses a loved one in a fatal car accident, he or she typically chooses to consult an experienced personal injury attorney as soon after the tragedy as possible.

Source: NBC Washington, “Recent High School Graduate Sentenced in Maryland Drunken Driving Crash That Killed 2 Friends“, Kristin Wright and Andrea Swalec, June 9, 2016