Boston DUI accident lawyer

March 13, 2017

Report: Driver in Double-Fatal Tesla Car Accident Was Drunk

The woman behind the wheel of a speeding electric Tesla vehicle that crashed and caught fire in Indiana recently, killing her and her passenger, was far too intoxicated to drive. That’s according to a recently-released police report with toxicology tests indicating the 27-year-old driver had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.21, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08. Meanwhile, her 44-year-old passenger and the owner of the vehicle had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.17.

Although Tesla has come under fire in recent months for its Autopilot feature, a semi-autonomous function that has been cited in a number of crashes, including at least one fatal. The concern has been that the maker of these systems over-hyped the autonomy of these systems. Such a system, if totally autonomous, could go a long way toward curbing drunk driving accidents because human error wouldn’t be a factor. However the reality is that in these semi-autonomous systems, drivers have to be ready to take over the wheel at a moment’s notice. In the case of the driver who died in a car accident while the Autopilot feature was engaged, he reportedly had numerous social media photos of him carrying out other tasks behind the wheel while his vehicle did the heavy lifting. But when a tractor-trailer crossed in front of his path one day, the Autopilot feature failed to detect the white truck against the bright sky, and the resulting collision killed him.

In this case, officials have said there is no indication that the Autopilot feature was activated. Further, officials with Tesla say the feature would have capped the vehicle’s speed on this particular road to under 35-mph on the road where the crash happened. Continue reading

July 15, 2016

With 8 Prior DUI Convictions, He Got Life on the 9th

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Donald Middleton of Texas was known by local authorities in Houston, TX to drink to excess and then get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. But it wasn’t his first conviction that stopped him. It wasn’t even his second, third or fourth.

In fact, as The New York Times reported, Middleton had eight prior convictions and still technically had a driver’s license that was valid. But now, after his ninth conviction, not only did the judge revoke his driver’s license for life, she sentenced him to life in prison. The 56-year-old won’t be eligible for parole until he’s 86-years-old – 30 years from now.

Of course, we know that repeat DUI offenders pose a substantial threat on the road. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), one-third of all drivers arrested and convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders. AAA DUI Justice Link reports that the risk of a driver with one or more DUI convictions becoming involved in a fatal crash is 1.4 times higher than for a driver who has no prior DUI convictions. Continue reading

July 2, 2016

$12.9 Million Awarded to Family of Drunk Driving Victim

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Survivors of a man killed in a drunk driving accident have been awarded $12.9 million in damages by an Indiana jury.

However, whether they will actually be able to collect those damages is questionable.

The details of the wreck, according to the criminal case, Barlow v. State of Indiana, defendant was driving with three passengers in his vehicle, including his fiancee, on their way to a casino. Defendant was allegedly driving 80 mph, far in excess of the 55 mph speed limit, when he crossed the center line and hit another driver head-on, instantly killing that driver. Defendant’s vehicle burst into flames, and although defendant tried to rescue his three passengers, all three of them perished. Continue reading