According to a recent news report from The Boston Globe, two college students were driving through campus at Endicott College on a street that goes between most of the dorms when the car lost control and crashed into a utility pole.
Authorities say the driver of the car was from a college in the New England area and the passenger who was killed as result of this tragic car accident was a student at Endicott College where the accident occurred.
The accident occurred in the early morning hours, and authorities believe alcohol and speed may have played a major factor in the deadly car crash. Two female students, who said they were close friends with the male accident victim, told reporters that they were walking back to their dorm when accident occurred and were just steps from the front door when they heard the squeal of tires and the jarring crash as the vehicle slammed into the utility pole. They ran over to the scene of this one-car accident to see what had happened and learned that it was their friend who was involved in the accident.
There were many students already in their respective dorm rooms overlooking where the accident occurred who looked out their windows and then dialed 911. Dispatch operators said so many people called for assistance at the same time that circuits were overloaded, and people were unable to get through. However, this did not affect the initial response time, since the first callers had managed to get through to operators before the mass volume of calls caused the trouble.
When first responders got to the scene of the accident, they provided immediate medical attention and transported both victims to a local hospital. The passenger was soon pronounced dead, and the driver who was suffering from serious but non-life-threatening injuries was transported to a larger hospital for additional medical treatment that the smaller regional hospital was not as equipped to easily provide. It should be noted that while police believe the driver may have been intoxicated at the time of this deadly car accident, he has not been convicted of any crime in connection with this incident and is presumed innocent unless and until he is found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a judge or jury.
One of the the more difficult aspects of cases where the victim is a passenger in the defendant’s car, and the defendant is accused of driving drunk, is that the defense will often make the argument that the plaintiff assumed some or all of the risk by getting in the car when or knew or should have known that the driver was intoxicated. Assumption of risk is a defense in some personal injury cases, and you should speak with your Boston car accident lawyer about how this may or may not affect the outcome of your actual claim.
However, even if there as an assumption of risk, there is another legal doctrine that may negate the assumption of risk known as the last clear chance doctrine. With the last clear chance doctrine, liability may shift back to the defendant if he or she was is a position with the last clear chance to avoid the accident.
If you are injured in an accident in Massachusetts, call Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential appointment — (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Endicott College student killed in overnight crash, April 23, 2016, Boston Globe, Nicole Fleming
More Blog Entries:
Head-on Collision Caught on Camera in Newton, April 13, 2016, Boston Prom Accident Lawyer Blog