Drunken Driving Fatality

A Nashville man decided to drive drunk.  Little did he know that that decision would forever alter his life and end the life of another man. An article on the website of WSMV TV reports that Timothy Rush, 34, has been charged with vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and DUI following a fatal crash. According to the article Rush ran a stop sign and T-boned a car driven by Calvin Miller, Jr., 29, who was rushed to Vanderbilt Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. My prayers go out to the family and friends of Mr. Miller. A witness said that after the collision Rush tried to drive away but he hit a power pole. A third vehicle was involved but neither the driver nor the passenger were injured.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 377 people killed in 2007 with a BAC of .08 or higher.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk driver and you hope to recover all of the damages the law allows you need to consult with an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney like those at Phillip Miller & Associates. We offer a free consultation so that you can gain the information you will need to face this odyssey through the legal system.

www.wsmv.com/news/24109729/detail.html

Driving Drunk And No Seatbelt

It was 2 AM and he tried to do the right thing, turning his car keys over to another person when he realized that he had had too much to drink, but his good intentions cost him his life. You see, the 39-year-old Sevier County Tennessee man gave his keys to the woman he had been drinking with, and who was, according to local media reports, as drunk or drunker than he was.

His second, and probably his most fatal mistake, was that he failed to use his seatbelt, so when his friend veered off the road, overcorrected and hit a tree, he was killed.

As an experienced Nashville car accident lawyer I want to remind you that driving with a BAC of .08 or higher is illegal in every state. If you follow my blog you will see that in Tennessee we continue to see a tragic number of people with debilitating injuries and deaths as a result of impaired driving. This careless disregard for human life must stop.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 377 people killed in 2007 with a BAC of .08 or higher. Over the 2008 Labor Day holiday, 12 people were killed in 10 fatal crashes on Tennessee roadways, down from 17 people killed on Tennessee roadways in 2007.

If you are a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee car accident caused by a drunk driver you owe it to yourself to contact an experienced Nashville auto accident lawyer like those at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.

Tennessee Drunk Driving Fatality

As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident lawyer I use my blog to educate and warn my readers of the dangers they face on the highways and byways of Tennessee. I also try to suggest solutions they may employ to stay safe while behind the wheel. One of the other things I do with my blog is to name the number one driver each year who should never be allowed behind the wheel again.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a candidate. Reference recent articles in local Nashville media reporting on a fatal accident caused by a drunken driver on a Nashville highway the other day. Apparently an alert citizen reported that a seriously drunken man left a local pizza restaurant and got into his car. The police found the guy on the side of the Clarksville Highway passed out behind the wheel. When police officers knocked on the window to get his attention, he awoke and sped off.

A short time later this jerk lost control and crossed the double yellow line and smashed head-on into a car driven by 49-year-old man who was pronounced dead at the scene. This guy has used up all of his privileges to be a free man. To top it off the drunken man was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown through the windshield upon impact and is hospitalized in serious condition. The vehicle had not been reported stolen and the man has prior convictions in Nashville for attempted murder and multiple thefts in Davidson and Rutherford counties. My prayers go out to the innocent victim of this senseless act.

If you follow my blog you will see that in Tennessee we continue to see a tragic number of people with debilitating injuries and deaths as a result of impaired driving. This careless disregard for human life must stop. Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.

If you or a loved one is involved in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

As an experienced Tennessee motorcycle accident attorney I can tell you right off that a high powered motorcycle, alcohol and high speed on an Interstate highway is a recipe for disaster. So it was for a White House woman who was a passenger on such a motorcycle. According to local media sources the woman fell off of the speeding motorcycle and was hit by several cars on the interstate. Charges are pending against the driver.

As an experienced Tennessee accident lawyer I want to remind you that driving with a BAC of .08 or higher is illegal in every state. If you follow my blog you will see that in Tennessee we continue to see a tragic number of people with debilitating injuries and deaths as a result of drunk driving.

Motorcycles made up nearly 3 percent of all registered vehicles in the United States in 2006 and accounted for only 0.4 percent of all vehicle miles traveled. Per vehicle mile traveled in 2006, motorcyclists were about 35 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traffic crash and 8 times more likely to be injured.

Stories like these should remind us that when we get behind the wheel, or handle bars, of a motor vehicle we have to have our full attention on the task at hand. Driving while drunk doesn’t help our attention.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Tennessee motorcycle accident contact our experienced Nashville accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and learn about your rights and remedies.

Tennessee Drunk Driving Fatality

Several East Tennessee media sources reported on a tragic Tennessee automobile pickup truck collision that took the life on a 63-year-old Sequatchie man. For some reason Ms. Ruby Payne, 57, was, according to witnesses, swerving in and out of traffic on I-24. She lost control of her vehicle, left the roadway, overcorrected and crossed back into traffic and hit a Ford Pickup truck driven by John Taylor. The collision caused Mr. Taylor to leave the roadway, hit a ditch and roll several times.

Unfortunately, Mr. Taylor didn’t have his seatbelt on and was ejected from the vehicle and was dead at the scene. My prayers go out to the family and friends of Mr. Taylor for their terrible loss. My prayers also to Ms. Payne that she find peace and redemption for the tragedy she caused. I suspect that she will have plenty of time in jail to ponder that event.

Now I may be wrong, but from the facts set out in the media, which is all I have to go by, I would make the assumption that Ms. Payne was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs or that she was suffering some sort of medical emergency.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. Here in Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 377 people killed in 2007 with a BAC of .08 or higher.

On average, a human being is killed by a drunk driver every 45 minutes. In 2008, an estimated 11,773 people died in drunk driving related crashs a decline of 9.8 percent from the 13,041 drunk driving related fatalities of 2007.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident by a drunk driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation so that you can get a complete picture of your rights and remedies

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer, my first thought when I read about a Tennessee automobile accident involving a driver going the wrong way on divided highway, is that the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Now I didn’t know Michael Doe Folden of Johnson City and there is little information other than the fact that he was driving the wrong way on a divided expressway around 9:30 PM near the entrance of he Elizabethton County Club when he rammed into a car driven by Wendy Watson, her husband and her 14-year-old daughter, but I feel there’s a good chance he was DUI.

Mr. Folden died at the scene and the condition of the Watson’s is unknown at the time of this writing. As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney the main thing that I would focus on would be Mr. Folden’s activities in the hours preceding the collision. An important question is whether he was drinking and where. Was he a member or guest at the Country Club? My prayers go out to the family and friends of Mr. Folden and I pray for a complete and speedy recovery for the Watson’s.

Hopefully for the Watson’s, Mr. Folden had insurance, but I would take a good look at any establishment that had served him alcohol. Dramshop refers to a bar, tavern or the like where alcoholic beverages are sold. Traditionally, it referred to a shop where spirits were sold by the dram, a small unit of liquid. Dramshop laws establish liability arising out of the irresponsible sale of alcohol to obviously intoxicated persons or minors who subsequently cause death or injury to third-parties as a result of alcohol-related accidents.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Tennessee car crash caused by a drunk driver you owe it to yourself to contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights.

They Don't Mix

When it comes to drinking and driving this experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney knows that stupid is as stupid does. First of all, for people who haven’t been paying attention, it’s stupid to get behind the wheel when you have been consuming alcohol. It’s stupid to get behind the wheel under the influence and speed. And stupider and stupider, if you hit a pedestrian and decide to try to avoid the consequences. Stop immediately and render aide to the poor pedestrian. Put your selfish interests aside and call 911. Things might get unpleasant but they could get worse.

And worse it will be for Matthew W. Winn, 22 of Bellevue. Mr. Winn got behind the wheel of his Ford pickup truck under the influence of alcohol and on his way home ran over a man crossing the street. Winn was obviously not watching the road ahead or driving the speed limit or he would have seen Mr. Hongyong Lee, 48 also of Bellevue, and not killed him. Stupid is as stupid does.

Mr. Winn left the scene and called a friend who came to the site of the crash and found Mr. Lee dead and called 911. Had Mr. Winn called first responders immediately Mr. Winn may or may not have survived, we will never know. When police arrived they asked the friend to call Mr. Winn and tell him to return. Mr. Winn did return but he was driving his mother’s car instead of the Ford pickup truck. The police administered a field sobriety test and then a blood test. He was arrested and police said that additional charges are possible as the investigation continues. Stupid is as stupid does.

If you or a loved one is involved in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

It Only Takes a Second To Change Lives

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I can tell you that there are some jurisdictions in and around the Nashville area that take a dim view of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and enforce the law with an iron fist. Reference a recent article on the web site of Kentucky New Era. Oak Grove, Kentucky is a small town on the Tennessee-Kentucky border on the Gates of Fort Campbell.

A 20-year-old man was heading south on a state highway when he decided to pass three slower moving vehicles in front of him. As he passed those vehicles a car driven by a Fort Campbell soldier was entering the highway in a north-bound direction. The speeding vehicle hit the soldier’s car at the drivers door, killing him instantly. When police arrived at the scene the passing driver tested positive for alcohol and was arrested and jailed. The local authorities have charged the man with murder and he awaits trial in the Christian County jail.

Drinking and driving do not ever mix. Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than 51 billion dollars. But there are effective measures that can help prevent injuries and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving, education is an important tool and enforcement with stiff penalties is critical to changing the drinking driving culture that has developed in our country.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a drunk, or otherwise impaired driver, contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates.

Alcohol Related Fatality

As my goal with this Blog, “The Tennessee Auto Accident Attorney” is to educate my readers in the hope that you all will practice safe driving and instill in your family and friends the need to do the same, today I thought I would share a tragic story reported on the website of News Channel 5.

It appears that the crash happened just before midnight when a 27-year-old man veered from the highway in his SUV, hit a concrete culvert and flipped over several times, ejecting and killing him instantly. Investigators say that alcohol was a factor in the accident and that the young man was not wearing his seatbelt. They also said that he was driving on a suspended license and had a long history of driving offenses

How tragic that a young man has to lose his life because he just didn’t get it. It’s impossible to say what caused him to lose control of his vehicle, it might have been the alcohol, he might have fallen asleep or he may have been distracted by a cell phone or radio.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 377 people killed in 2007 with a BAC of .08 or higher, but even one death is too high of a rate.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your right and remedies.

Drunk Drivers Kill

It took a Washington County Tennessee jury a mere 34 minutes to find Michael Gardener guilty of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and driving on a revoked or suspended drivers license. The jury handed down a 22-year sentence, the maximum allowed by law. Before you get into your car after you have been drinking you might want to remember this case before you start the engine.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney I can tell you for certain that juries across the state are sick and tired of people like Mr. Gardner who flaunt the laws and take the lives of productive citizens. The victim in this case Johnny Morphew, 48 was a respected citizen, a firefighter and medical flight paramedic who was driving from home to work. On behalf of the staff and lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates I want to extend out deepest sympathies to Mr. Morphew’s family and friends, and indeed, to the people of Washington County for their loss.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In Tennessee in 2008, 327 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 377 people killed in 2007 with a BAC of .08 or higher..

If you or a loved one is injured or killed by a drunk driver contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to find out about your rights and remedies.