A 21-year-old man has been hit with a bevy of charges after he backed over an 83-year-old woman and killed her. The accident, which occurred in Hartford, Connecticut, happened at a grocery store where the 21-year-old worked. He did not have a valid driver’s license and was told by another employee at the store that he should make a delivery anyway.
The young man has been charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle; reckless driving; driving without a license; driving on a sidewalk; unsafe backing; and evading responsibility after an accident involving a death. If guilty, the young man could be looking at a lengthy jail sentence.
The 83-year-old was apparently right behind the vehicle, as the 21-year-old claims to not have seen her as he backed up. What made the young man’s situation even worse is that, after the accident, he did not tell any of his fellow employees; he merely scattered around the store telling people he was “scared.”
Often in pedestrian accidents, the police refuse to charge the driver involved in the case. The incident is deemed an accident (sometimes for good reason) and the police move on to other issues they deem more important. Obviously that didn’t happen in this case; but there can be cases where this reaction leaves the victim of a pedestrian accident with only one way of obtaining justice — a civil lawsuit.
For those who are in such a situation, you need to hire an attorney — not just to represent you in court, but to help you perform an investigation into the incident on top of what the police performed.
Source: CTnow, “New Charges Lodged In Fatal Pedestrian Accident In Hartford,” David Owens, Aug. 22, 2013
