According to WPRI reports, Rhode Island State Police charged a 25-year-old man in a deadly DUI-related car accident that occurred at Rt.146 North, just past Rt.116, in Lincoln, Rhode Island. The accident left one passenger dead and another seriously injured.
The accident happened just before 2:30 am on New Year’s Day. Rhode Island state troopers passed the remnants of a car accident around this time and noted a disabled vehicle facing the wrong way on the road.
The police determined that the driver lost control of the vehicle and hit a crash attenuator, thereby causing the vehicle to spin in the wrong direction. The front passenger, 22-year-old William Molloy, died as a result of being ejected from the vehicle during the crash. He was found at the scene without a pulse and later pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital.
The driver and rear-seat passenger were transported to Rhode Island Hospital as well with serious injuries but ultimately survived.
As a result of the investigation, the driver was arrested and later charged with:
- DUI of liquor or drugs, resulting in death
- DUI of liquor or drugs, resulting in serious bodily injury
- Driving so as to endanger, resulting in death
- Driving so as to endanger, resulting in serious bodily injury
Have You Been Injured in a DUI-Related Incident?
DUI-related automobile accidents pose a real and imminent danger to pedestrians, other drivers, and passengers alike. A recent Forbes Advisor study revealed that fatal car accidents in Rhode Island have increased by 18%, and that Rhode Island is now the second state with the most fatalities stemming from impaired drivers.
While it may seem like a no-brainer that an intoxicated individual should always be at fault, in Rhode Island, a “pure comparative negligence” state, a passenger may not fully recover in a third-party claim filed against the driver. In fact, the waters get even murkier in DUI cases. In this incident, while the passengers’ knowledge of the driver’s intoxication is currently unknown, there is no doubt that an uphill battle with insurance adjustors will soon arise.
If you have recently been injured in a DUI-related automobile accident, or believe you are entitled to wrongful death recovery in relation to a DUI case, take the guesswork and headache out of assessing your claims, and focus on recovering. Call us anytime and Bottaro Law will assess your case, free of charge.
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