It has been nearly a year since a drunk driver slammed his pick-up truck into a crowd gathered to watch a Mardi Gras parade. The 26-year-old was recently ordered by a judge to spend about three more years behind bars for the crash that injured more than 30 people.
Twenty-three people were hospitalized after the crash. News reports have indicated that a number of injury victims were left with pain, traumatic memories and enormous medical bills.
The driver is from a small south Louisiana town about three and a half hours east of Lake Charles. Paradis has a population of less than 1,500.
One woman who testified last year recalled her surreal memories of the crash. She remembered looking first to her left and then her right as she propelled through the air by the man’s pick-up. “I was stuck on the grill of (his) truck,” she told the court. “Just standing up, until we crashed into the dump truck.”
All of her left-side ribs were broken, as were several on her right, as well as her left arm. Her collarbone was dislocated, too. She suffers from PTSD, she said.
The two friends she was with were also injured, one of them seriously.
The driver was tested after the crash and was found by police officers to have a blood-alcohol content of .232 percent, or nearly three times the .08 percent legal limit.
Far too often, innocent people are injured by drunk drivers. The victims can pursue justice and full compensation for all damages with the help of a Lake Charles personal injury attorney experienced in both litigation and negotiation.
