A drunk driving conviction can result in serious criminal consequences. These consequences, however, will be compounded when the drunk driving conviction involves a fatal accident that a court deems to be caused by the driver’s intoxication. An alleged drunk driving crash that recently resulted in the death of an Uber driver is an example of such an incident.
A 31-year-old male driver was operating his 2010 Ford Escape for Uber in Charlotte when an allegedly drunk driver in a 2006 Subaru fatally struck his car. Law enforcement officials claim that the driver who caused the crash was speeding while heading the wrong way down the road before he struck the Uber driver head-on. After further investigation at the crash site, police alleged that the 39-year-old man who caused the accident was intoxicated at the time.
Unfortunately, emergency responders were unable to save the Uber driver, who died at the accident scene. An Uber customer who was riding in the backseat at the time of the crash was injured. He was rushed to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. Uber has indicated that it will fully cooperate with police in all aspects of the investigation. A passenger riding in the allegedly drunk driver’s car also required hospital care.
The 39-year-old who allegedly caused the incident wasn’t injured. Police arrested him at the scene and booked him on two counts of felony serious injury by vehicle and one count of felony death by vehicle.
If a driver is convicted of DWI relating to a fatal vehicle accident, the accused individual could face punishments that involve years in a North Carolina prison. As such, those accused of DWI after fatal accidents will want to handle their DWI criminal defenses carefully and strategically to try to limit the chances of conviction and/or reduce the consequences if conviction is unavoidable.