Georgia residents know that accidents happen, but everyone hopes it will never happen to them or anyone they know. No one wants to get that phone call from a hospital or law enforcement official that a loved one has been involved in an accident. As your stomach moves up into your throat and you run out the door to the hospital, you can only hope that it wasn’t a fatal accident. Too many people have had to take that phone call.
Authorities had to make that phone call to the family of a passenger involved in a fatal accident. He was the passenger in a Subaru that collided with a Jeep Liberty outside Fort Gordon. The Subaru driver was attempting to make a left hand turn but she turned into the path of the Jeep Liberty. She is in critical condition at a local Georgia hospital. The driver of the Jeep Liberty was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Police are still investigating the accident and are awaiting toxicology results to determine if the drivers involved in the accident were impaired. No charges have been filed against either driver as of yet. In the meantime, the family of the passenger is left to try and cope with its sudden and shocking loss.
At some point, the family may want to decide whether to file a wrongful death action in connection with this fatal accident that took the life of their loved one. Granted, filing a civil action isn’t going to bring him back, but it may help give the family a sense of justice and help to defray some of the financial burden this accident may have caused. Medical expenses, funeral expenses and the like are recoverable in a wrongful death action if negligence on the part of another party to the collision can be proved.
Source: wjbf.com, “Updated: 22-Year-Old Dies in Gordon Highway Accident,” Jillian Benfield, Aug. 12, 2012
