The Florida Highway Patrol charged a 43 year-old woman with DUI manslaughter, DUI with serious injury and DUI with property damage after troopers determined that she was the cause of a March 10 tractor trailer crash on I-295 near Jacksonville that killed another driver. The crash killed a 45 year old man from Whitby, Ontario.

The police accident report stated that the woman was driving a Ford F250 on I-295 when the truck rear ended a tractor trailer. That impact sent the pickup trup across the highway median into the opposite lanes. She then slammed into a Honda CR-V, which then hit another tractor trailer. The driver was killed upon impact.

The pickup truck driver was arrested at the end of November and is being held on $140,000 bond.

Our View

Our Virginia personal injury attorneys are very sorry to hear about this tragic Florida DUI crash that led to loss of life. We hope that the driver, if convicted, faces the maximum possible punishment. In Florida, DUI manslaughter is a 2nd degree felony. Under Florida law, the judge must impose a sentence of at least 124.5 months in state prison, in addition to a permanent driver’s license revocation, $10,000 maximum in fines and up to 15 years of probation.

We hope that the above penalties make people aware of just how severely you can be punished for drunk driving that kills another person. Each day, nearly 30 people are killed by drunk drivers in the United States. That is a death every hour. 

But everyone who is thinking about drinking and driving should remember that there are other possible penalties. If you drink and drive and injure or kill someone else, you can be sued in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

A wrongful death lawsuit can be filed when the victim lost his or her life due to the negligence of another person. The survivors of the loved one may be entitled to damages due to the negligent behavior of the defendant. Some of thes damages can include medical bills, funeral expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.

Depending upon the circumstances, the settlement from a wrongful death lawsuit can result in high compensation, such as this truck accident wrongful death settlement that our law firm settled for $2.25 million a few years ago.