Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

John Brent, a young, athletically gifted man from Illinois, parlayed a successful college football career at the University of Illinois into a spot on the coveted Dallas Cowboys football team. Brent left after his junior year of college and entered the supplemental draft when he was taken in the 7th round by the Cowboys.

While at the University of Illinois, Brent was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding on a suspended license in 2009 and placed on probation, which he completed in July of 2011. Fast forward to the present. Brent was driving his fellow teammate, Jerry Brown, in the early morning in a Dallas suburb just hours before Brent was to board the team plane to game in Cincinnati against the Bengals yesterday.

According to the facts as collected by the Irving, Texas, police department, Brent was speeding in his Mercedes above the 45 mph zone when his vehicle struck a curb, flipped and came to a rest upside down. Consequently, a small fire ensued which was later put out by the police. Brent dragged Jerry Brown from the vehicle as the police arrived at the scene.

Brent was cooperative with the investigating police, yet he failed a field sobriety test (i.e. walking a straight line, eye gaze test). At that point, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. After Brown died from the injuries in the wreck, the criminal charge against Brent was upgraded to intoxication manslaughter, a second-degree felony in Texas subject to imprisonment from two to 20 years.
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Hit-and-Run collisions are common in Greater Atlanta. Too often, the reason behind a hit-and-run collision is due to the fact that the motorist is under the influence of alcohol or drugs and does not want to stick around for the police and get arrested. In my law practice, I have handled many hit-and-run crashes where the hit-and-run motorists had outstanding criminal warrants or were illegal aliens at the time of the accident.

Another hit-and-run fatality occurred this past Sunday night on Moreland Avenue and South River Industrial Drive in DeKalb County. Tony Smith was operating a Chevrolet Camaro northbound and chose to make a left turn in front of a southbound motorcyclist driven by 30-year-old Jose Santiago-Maldonado. Consequently, Mr. Smith struck Mr. Santiago-Maldonado at a high rate of speed.

According to the article, the eyewitness L.C. Wheat stated that the strength of the impact sent the motorcyclist and motorcycle in the air. Mr. Wheat took note that Mr. Smith, the driver of the Camaro, failed to stop at the scene of the crash and fled the scene of the collision. Mr. Wheat followed Mr. Smith for over several miles and led police to the vicinity where they were able to take Mr. Smith into custody and arrest. Mr. Smith denied being involved in the collision; however, Mr. Smith was unable to refute Mr. Wheat’s first hand witness testimony that he was the operator of the Camaro.

As a result of the injuries sustained in the collision, Mr. Santiago-Maldonaldo died. Our condolences are extended to the family of Mr. Santiago-Maldonaldo. It was unclear if he was pronounced dead at the scene or transferred to the hospital for emergent care. It was not apparent if Mr. Santiago-Maldonado was wearing a helmet. Frankly, after seeing the pictures of the extensive property damage to the motorcycle, I am not so sure that a helmet would have made any difference. Operating a vehicle in Atlanta is dangerous but operating a motorcycle in Atlanta is even more so.
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Intersections in Atlanta are very dangerous. Just driving home today from work I noticed 50 percent of the drivers looking down at their cell phone – the other 20 percent of drivers were talking on their cell phone. The remaining 30 percent were looking straight ahead at the road. As an Atlantan, I wish the 70 percent were more like the 30 percent. The real danger is when the 70 percent are passing through intersections at relatively high speeds as any collision can be life altering or life ending. As most Americans own cell phones, I would be willing to bet that these percentages apply in most major cities to a greater or lesser degree, which is absolutely worrisome.

Although it really did not make the headline news in Atlanta, a teenage motorist from Alabama was killed when a motorist hit her vehicle in a side impact collision in Atlanta. By all accounts, this teenager was accomplished for her age as she was a nationally ranked equestrian and according to her friends and a family, a daughter, sister, niece and best friend.

In mid July of this year, Claire Briggs, 16-years-old, was in Fairburn, Georgia attending a team equestrian event. As she left the event to drive back to her home in Alabama, she traveled near or through an intersection and was immediately T-boned/broadsided by another vehicle. She was immediately taken to the hospital and her extended family flew in to be by her side. The article states that Ms. Briggs’ organs were severely damaged as a result of the collision.
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The City of Austell, Georgia has a population of approximately 6,581 according to the 2010 Census. It is located within Cobb County and is strategically located near I-285 and I-20. Traffic accidents, car collisions and wrecks are handled inside the city by the Austell Police Department and within the county by Cobb County Police.

On Thursday, July 26, 2012, yet another high-speed car chase took place within Greater Atlanta and specifically within Douglas County, Georgia. Recently, another high-speed car chase involving an Atlanta Police Department police officer resulted in a fatality and the termination of the employment of the officer. Another recent car chase in occurred in Atlanta that resulted in the death of the motorcyclist. It seems as if high-speed car chases and resulting car accidents and auto collisions are becoming more prolific throughout Greater Atlanta.

Flash back to last Thursday in Austell, Georgia. The motorist of the offending vehicle, Jeremiah Mathis, 30, of Atlanta, had several outstanding unrelated criminal warrants on him from several different Georgia counties. Although one article is unclear as to the genesis of the chase, one can assume that the Douglas County Sheriff either determined through a vehicle tag check or witnessed an improper traffic maneuver that resulted in a high-speed car chase throughout Douglas County. According to another article, Mr. Mathis was speeding.

On Thursday evening, Mathis had been speeding in a Chevy Aveo, a subcompact vehicle, with four passengers, including two children – one of which was a front seat passenger. Austell police began to chase Mathis throughout Douglas County. At the intersection of Thornton Road and Maxham Road in Austell, Mathis struck a Chevy Avalanche, a five or six passenger heavy SUV, and caused the Avalanche to flip and roll into a third vehicle.
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Just more than a week ago, a high-speed car chase in southeast Atlanta killed an innocent woman motorist and injured others. The police officer involved in that crash has since been charged with manslaughter. The facts of that chase indicated that the officer had received a call for assistance and was traveling at an excessively high speed when s/he impacted a BMW at, near or in an intersection, and subsequently another vehicle containing a mother and her two children inside. Witnesses to the collision reported that the force of the impact was so strong that it caused the patrol vehicle to catch fire. My blog analyzing that chase and its legal impact can be found here.

Fast-forward to yesterday evening and we have yet another fatality resulting from a law enforcement high-speed chase. However, this time it involved a motorcyclist and the resulting crash was not the fault of the patrol officer.

On or around 7 p.m. this past Friday night, George Andrew Tillage, 44, of McDonough, Georgia, operated his 2003 Kawasaki motorcycle. Mr. Tillage was traveling southbound on I-285 when a Georgia State Patrol Officer noticed that Mr. Tillage did not have a tag on the motorcycle.

According to the Georgia State Patrol, the State Trooper activated his lights and siren. Consequently, Mr. Tillage attempted to flee from the trooper by immediately accelerating and weaving in and out of traffic at an excessive speed. As Mr. Tillage sped past Washington Road, he lost control of his 2003 Kawasaki motorcycle, on the ramp to the Old National Highway exit and collided into a guardrail. Although the trooper immediately contacted emergency medical personnel, it was determined that Mr. Tillage died at the scene.
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Yesterday, a 34 year-old man, Jose Mena, was operating a 1995 Green Taurus and entered the car wash located at 1932 Metropolitan Pkwy in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. At the same time, three children who ranged in ages from 3 -13 were also on the premises of the car wash as they waited for their father.

At some point, Mr. Mena unknowingly pinned the three children against the wall of the car wash as he entered the premises and was only alerted by vigilant passersby’s. Thus, either upon his initial entrance or after he entered upon the premises of the car wash, Mr. Mena’s attention was distracted. The article is silent as to what or why his attention was distracted. I will make the following assumptions as to the cause of Mr. Mena’s distraction: Mr. Mena was using his mobile phone; Mr. Mena was looking somewhere other than straight ahead and/or Mr. Mena’s was impaired during the operation of his vehicle.

The impact of the vehicle with the wall and the children had to be somewhat significant inasmuch as it caused a crack in Mr. Mena’s windshield and had pinned the children to the wall. Fortunately, the three children were released by the Children’s Hospital at Egleston and released with minor injuries. This specific incident has gone viral across the country and has even been cited by a San Francisco news agency website among others. Obviously, this is due to the uncommon nature of the incident and tender years of the children involved.
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Moments or minutes before you possibly hear a siren, a police officer on the patrol has received a call requiring his/her services. On these occasions and in most of the situations – particularly emergencies – the police officer will generally flip on his police lights and siren and speed to the scene. In a minority of cases, the police may be involved in a chase whereby he/she is actually chasing another automobile from the location of a crime. It is in these situations that innocent bystanders, pedestrians, motorists or passengers may injured even though they are not directly involved in the chase.

In fact, this is exactly what happened this past Saturday at approximately 5 p.m. when a police chase involving an Atlanta Police Department officer identified as Joshua Seick, resulted in damages and injuries in Southwest Atlanta to innocent victims at the intersection of Cascade Road and Fairburn Road (a popular and well traveled intersection) in Fulton County, Georgia. The officer had received a call for assistance and was traveling at a high speed when he/she impacted a BMW at, near or in the intersection and subsequently another vehicle containing a mother and her two children inside.

Witnesses report that the force of the impact was so strong that it caused the patrol vehicle to catch fire. The photographs taken at the scene show a police vehicle with extensive front-end damage that shows intrusion into the driver’s area of the vehicle. Ms. Kenyatta White, the mother of the two children, opined that the “…police car came across there too fast and it just happened so fast.” The officer and driver of the BMW were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries.

The question remains…how does the operator of the BMW recover for property damage, bodily injury and pain and suffering against the police officer for the high-speed chase? In Georgia, the answer lies in the Georgia Tort Claims Act, which allows personal injury claims against the government.
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