Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog
According to a recent news article from the Boston Globe, a police officer in Wareham, Massachusetts was injured after a drunk driver allegedly hit him during his patrol shift. The accident occurred just after midnight when the defendant’s vehicle was allegedly turning into the parking lot of a local restaurant.
Authorities have said officer was on patrol when defendant was driving past a restaurant. Without warning, defendant allegedly turned sharply to enter the restaurant parking lot and slammed into the police cruiser. There was reportedly extensive damage to both vehicles involved in the alleged Boston area drunk driving accident. Immediately following the crash, the officer managed to get out of his heavily damaged cruiser and went to check on defendant’s condition. He then called for backup so that other officers who were not involved in the crash could conduct an investigation.
They quickly suspected defendant had been driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs and performed a drunk driving investigation to determine if there was probable cause to make an arrest. After making an arrest on suspicion of drunk driving and determining that he was not seriously injured, he was taken to a holding cell and then to court the same morning, where he was released without bail. It should be noted that he has only been accused of drinking and driving in connection with a drunk driving accident and is presumed innocent unless and until he is found guilty in a court of law. He was also charged with a number of other civil motor vehicle infractions in addition to criminal charges, which is often the case in drunk driving accidents.
As for the officer, he was injured in the crash, but his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. He was taken to a local hospital for further treatment after paramedics assessed his condition on the scene of the drunk driving car accident.
While it is fortunate that nobody was seriously injured in this crash, many drunk driving accident victims are not so lucky. Each year around 10,000 people will be killed in drunk driving crash across the United States. In addition to these fatal cases, many times that amount will be serious injured. This is not hard to believe, as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) research estimates that over four million people will drive drunk in the U.S. each year. This results in a drunk driving accident occurring every two minutes and a fatal drunk driving crash occurring every 53 minutes on average. The worst part of this is that every single one of these drunk driving accidents are preventable, because we are dealing with people choosing to engage in very negligent conduct.
In the context of lawsuit, it is also negligence that will be the primary cause of action. Every time someone drinks to the point of intoxication and gets behind the wheel, this is negligent conduct in the civil sense, as well. If this drunk driver causes an accident and a person is inured, this may be enough to satisfy the requirement of proof in these types of cases.
If you or someone you love has been injured a Boston drunk driving accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Wareham police officer injured after cruiser is hit by alleged drunk driver, April 7, 2017, By Andrew Grant, Boston Globe
More Blog Entries:
Former NFL Quarterback Vince Young Given Probation for Drunk Driving, Feb. 7, 2017, Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog