Driver in motorcycle vs. car accident receives 10 year sentence

On Nov. 12, 2012, a 70-year-old Louisiana man was riding his motorcycle west on La. 38 when he was killed by another vehicle. The driver pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide on Jan. 15 in connection with the motorcycle vs. car accident. On Feb. 11, a judge sentenced the 52-year-old man to prison for 10 years.

On the day of the accident, the now convicted man was traveling east on La. 38 when he lost control of his vehicle and left the roadway. When he attempted to get back onto the road, he over-corrected. His vehicle ended up directly in the path of the Louisiana man.

The car struck the motorcycle head-on. The motorcycle rider suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. A routine toxicology test indicated that the car driver was intoxicated at the time. The man will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least five years of his sentence. At that point, he may be free to return home — unlike his victim.

This man’s decision to get behind the wheel of his car after drinking cost a man his life. His guilty plea may be offered by the motorcycle rider’s family as evidence of negligence in a wrongful death claim filed against the driver in connection with this tragic car accident. Any award of monetary damages that is ultimately achieved will not right the wrong committed that day, but it may give the family some sense of closure and justice as well as financial relief for the monetary damages sustained.

Source: theadvocate.com, Kentwood man sentenced to 10 years in 2012 fatal crash, No author, Feb. 18, 2014