The St. Louis metro area has recently been devastated by several deaths resulting from drunk driving accidents. Robert Wood of Wright City, Missouri, was killed when his car was rear-ended on Interstate 70 near O’Fallon, Missouri. The man who hit Wood, Chad Frazer, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. The Missouri Highway Patrol indicated that Frazer’s blood alcohol level was over three times the limit at 0.27.
Reports indicate that Wood was traveling eastbound in the right lane on I-70 in a 1990 Mercury Topaz. Frazer was also traveling eastbound in a 1991 Ford Mustang when he came up behind a tractor trailer. Frazer attempted to pass on the right and rear-ended Wood’s car sending it off the right side of the highway. Frazer’s car veered to left and came to rest along the median. Frazer was reportedly traveling at speeds in excess of 100 mph when he hit Wood’s car. Wood was pronounced dead at the scene. Frazer was taken to St. Joseph’s Health Center with moderate injuries.
Tawanda Jackson, Arnold Jackson, and Jon Moss were also recently killed in a fatal crash near Edwardsville, Illinois, on Route 255 about 1½ miles north of I-270. The other driver, Newton Keene, was drunk and driving without a license when he drove the wrong way on Illinois 255, crashing into Jackson’s car.
Keene had six previous drunk driving convictions in Illinois and Missouri, as well as two convictions for driving without a valid license. Keene had also been pulled over three times for driving on the wrong side of the road while drunk. Despite all of this, he had never served more than 120 days in jail.
Lindsey Arnold-Zimmer, who was five months pregnant, and her husband, Adam Zimmer, 26, both of Granite City, were killed in a crash on Route 111. Zimmer was a special education teacher, and Arnold-Zimmer was a finance manager for a car dealer. Donald W. Canterbery was driving drunk in his Chevrolet Corvette on Route 111 near Fairmont City when he rear-ended the couple's vehicle, sending it into the path of an oncoming pickup whose driver, prosecutors said, also may have been intoxicated.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that over 17,500 Americans are killed each year in car collisions related to drinking and driving. If you or someone that you love has been the victim of a car accident where drunk driving was involved, you may be able to file a civil action against the driver that hit you. There may also be a third or additional party to the claim. Additional parties typically include establishments that may have provided or sold alcohol to the individual that caused the accident. In some cases, this may even include a neighbor or friend that allowed the individual to leave the premises with a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. The law specifies that the person in the third party claim must have knowingly provided the alcoholic beverages to an individual that was visibly intoxicated and allowed that intoxicated person to leave in a car.
An injury claim involving a drunk driver can be very emotional. Everyone expects to be safe from drunk drivers even though many people know of at least one person that regularly drives drunk. The St. Louis Post Dispatch has called for harsher sentences from the Courts, and more leeway for police officer’s. While these options must be explored, our society should be facing these tragedies in a more direct way. When did we decide that drinking and driving was acceptable? It happens every day in every bar in this City. Please let these recent deaths be a wakeup call to us all that drinking and driving is not socially acceptable. Our attitude as a City can halt these deaths much quicker than the Courts, the police, or the legislature ever can.
The Missouri Highway Patrol recently reported that Brandon Peterson, 20 of Phoenix, Arizona, was killed in a fatal auto collision on Interstate 55. Peterson had been traveling northbound in the southbound lanes until his 1988 Honda Accord struck a semi truck head on. The collision occurred around 3:00 a.m. on March 27, 2009, and kept portions of the highway shut until 6:00 a.m. The semi driver reported he swerved into another lane to avoid the collision, but the Honda swerved in the same direction he did.
Teenage fun had deadly consequences in North St. Louis County during the early morning hours of January 2, 2009. That night 14 year old Brandon Jenkins took the keys to his mother’s 2007 Ford Focus to go joyriding with his friends. Brandon and his friends had gathered at his Hazelwood home and became bored as the evening wore on. Cruising around town provided the thrill these teenagers were seeking. .jpeg)
