Last month on our Fayetteville, North Carolina, personal injury law blog, we discussed a tragic accident involving two teens from Millbrook High School in Raleigh. Prior to the accident, witnesses reported that the students were at a party where the teen driver of the vehicle had been drinking. While driving home from the party, the teen driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree. He was treated for his injuries at a local hospital, but the passenger in his vehicle was killed.
The fatal drunk driving accident affected many students, parents and friends in the community, but it has also sparked a lengthy investigation in order to determine who was responsible for providing alcohol to the teens. The results of the investigation could also prompt the victim’s family to file a wrongful death lawsuit against any negligent party whose actions may have contributed to the fatal accident.
This week, it was reported that in addition to the 17-year-old driver having a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.29, which is well above the legal limit of 0.08 in North Carolina, police also discovered a shot glass in the teen’s car the morning of the Jan. 7 accident as well as an empty baggie that may have contained marijuana.
The teenager who was driving the vehicle the morning of the accident has since been charged with felony death by vehicle as well as several other charges. But police have also charged four other individuals who are suspected of contributing to the fatal accident. An 18-year-old has been charged with hosting a party where underage people were drinking alcohol including the accident victim and the driver. A 21-year-old man has been charged for buying alcohol for the teens. And two others have been charged for helping the man purchase the alcohol.
As part of the investigation, police searched the teen driver’s cell phone records in order to get leads on who may have provided alcohol to the driver and his passenger who was killed in the crash.
Source: News & Observer, “Raleigh police found shot glass, empty marijuana bag in wrecked Jeep,” Thomasi McDOnald, Feb. 7, 2012