Drunk Driving Accidents

Maryland Auto Accident News: Elkton Man Arrested in Connection with Fatal 2009 Drunk Driving Crash

April 4, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Fatal traffic accidents are a sad and unfortunately common occurrence on Maryland’s rural and interstate motorways. Every day, drivers from Annapolis, D.C., Baltimore and other cities and towns around the state face multiple dangers when taking to our roadways. This is seemingly the price we pay for living in such a mobile and active society. But many fatal traffic accidents can be prevented or avoided with some luck and a little preparation.

Even so, every few days we hear of a deadly car or truck collision that has claimed yet another life. These victims can be mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, even grandparents. Fate does not discriminate when it comes to traffic accidents. As Maryland auto injury lawyers, our office understands the emotional pain and hardship that accompanies every fatal automobile wreck. Sometimes the negligent party becomes a fugitive from justice, which makes a family’s loss that much more difficult to bear.

A news reports recently called this kind of accident to mind as a man wanted in a fatal drunk driving accident was identified by U.S. Customs agents at a northern boarder crossing. According to reports, Gerald D. Barnett was arrested in March on charges linked to a deadly car crash last year in June.

Baltimore Injury Lawyer News: Many Maryland Residents Support Ignition Interlocks for Convicted DUI Offenders

March 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Drunk driving kills thousands of people every year across the U.S. and Maryland is no exception to this sad statistic. Whether you live in Annapolis, Baltimore, the District or Columbia, MD, every week it is possible to read another in the steady stream of news article covering fatal traffic accidents caused by motorists impaired by alcohol, prescription narcotics and illicit drugs. Most every Maryland injury attorney has represented his or her fair share of victims and their families following a tragic car or truck wreck.

A bill making its way through the Maryland legislature may help to reduce the number of injuries, such as broken bones, head trauma and spinal cord damage, caused by repeat drunk driving offenders. According to reports, two bills are part of the state’s Drunk Driving Elimination Act, which was created in an attempt to reduce the incidence of DUI across Maryland.

One of the bills would require every convicted drunk driving offender to have an ignition interlock installed in his or her vehicle, and to remain in use for a state-mandated period of time — possibly three months. This potential law, which would affect even first-time DUI offenders, is similar to laws on the books in other states that require the use of ignition interlock devices for people responsible for automobile and trucking-related collisions.

Baltimore Car Accident News: Drunk Driving Blamed in Multi-car Injury Accident in Worcester County

February 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Injury accidents are commonplace on almost any roadway in Maryland. Whether it’s the city streets of Annapolis or D.C., the open highways across the state, or tight country roads, a car or truck crash can occur without warning. As a Maryland auto accident lawyer, I also know that drunken driving ups the ante when it comes to automobile collisions.

Not only does drinking and driving reduce a motorist’s reaction times, but it also dulls the cognitive portion of the brain, reducing a driver’s ability to make good and proper decisions. Mixing alcohol with a motor vehicle on a public road is just disaster waiting to happen. Yet this is what happens dozens of times every month. The pain and suffering that drunk drivers inflict on innocent motorists is already too high, yet police are constantly pulling these drivers over.

Unfortunately, sometimes it’s too late when a person driving under the influence of alcohol is taken into custody by law enforcement officer. A recent news report shows that as police try ever harder to limit the number of drunks on the road there is always one that gets through and causes an accident.

Baltimore Car Accident News: Maryland Man Gets Nine Years for Fatal Drunk-driving Accident

February 2, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Every year, hundreds of people are killed in traffic accidents across the country. Many of these automobile accidents are caused by motorists who drink and drive. Here in Maryland, it’s not uncommon to see news stories about drunk drivers who cause serious as well as fatal injuries to occupants of other vehicles due to driving under the influence of alcohol. As a personal injury lawyer in the Baltimore area, I have seen the aftermath of these kinds of alcohol-related wrecks.

It make no difference whether you drive a passenger car, pickup truck, sport utility vehicle (SUV) or minivan, a serious collision can turn your life upside down. If you are a breadwinner for your family, being injured in a car crash will impact your household income due to lost wages as well as medical costs during recovery. A fatal crash can have devastating affect on families in Annapolis, Owings Mills, the District, and other communities around the state.

Not long ago, a Maryland resident was sentenced to nine years in jail for the fatal drunk driving death of an area mom. According to the news, the crash that killed 28-year-old Cristina L. Palese occurred on March 21, 2009, during the victim’s drive home from work at the Cadillac Ranch restaurant at National Harbor, MD.

Man Gets Six Months for Fatal DWI Traffic Accident that Killed Maryland High School Student

January 19, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The year just past was marred by hundreds of traffic accidents throughout Maryland, some of which resulted in fatalities. One of the saddest was the death of a Stephen Decatur High School sophomore who was hit by a car as he and some friends tried to cross Route 50 near Ocean City. As a Baltimore personal injury and auto accident lawyer, my office understands the terrible grief that friends, families and communities feel at the loss of any youngster.

Unfortunately, traffic accidents involving pedestrians are often fatal and almost always severe. As drivers, we all must be especially vigilant when approaching people walking along the roadside or crossing the street. Cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are much more massive and quicker than a person on foot. Therefore additional caution should always be exercised whenever pedestrians are nearby.

According to news articles, the driver who hit the boy last year in May had a 0.10 percent blood-alcohol content at the time of the accident. Other than the drunken driving offense police had not issued any other charges in connection with the fatal crash. The man recently received six months in jail from a Worchester County court for his part in the accident.

Hollywood, MD, Man Charged with Vehicular Manslaughter in Drunk Driving Traffic Death

January 4, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Families of victims killed in fatal traffic accidents have a hard enough time without having the death be related to drunk driving. In Baltimore, the District, Annapolis or anywhere else in Maryland, drivers and passengers alike are killed every day in senseless car, truck and SUV crashes. Recently, the person whose actions may have resulted in the death last summer of a Tall Timbers, MD, motorist has been charged with vehicular homicide.

According to news reports, a 31-year-old Hollywood, Maryland, resident was indicted on charges of manslaughter by vehicle, drunk driving and reckless driving by a St. Mary’s grand jury. The incident occurred around midnight on July 25 on Route 249. The head-on collision allegedly caused by George Michael Bowes, Jr. resulted in the death of Russell Edward Wenzel, 58, and the serious injury of his wife.

Bowes was released recently on $100,000 bond after he was served the same day with an arrest warrant and the indictment from the two-vehicle collision last July.

17-year-old Maryland Teen Killed in Fatal Drunk Driving-related Pickup Truck Crash

December 12, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Fatal car accidents are tragic enough, but when you throw in alcohol use the tragedy is even more difficult for a community to bear. There is no excuse for driving drunk, yet every day across Maryland and the rest of the country motorists from all walks of life get behind the wheel while intoxicated. The lucky ones never have a car accident, however many do and those car, turck and SUV crashes can be fatal. The saddest situations involve traffic deaths at the hands of a friend or relative.

As Maryland auto accident attorneys, I and my colleagues see this kind of scenario all too often. Recently I read of a fatal single-vehicle crash that took the life of a young high school student from Howard County, MD. That young man’s choice to ride with a driver who was allegedly drunk was the worst possible decision he could have made.

Based on news articles, 17-year-old River Hill high school student Steven Dankos was riding in the bed of a pickup truck in late November with the older brother of one of his best friends at the wheel, 22-year-old David Erdman. A third passenger was also with them, Erdman’s 17-year-old brother Thomas was riding inside the pickup, police said.

Maryland Motorist Charged with Drunk Driving and Two Accidents Traveling the Wrong Way on I-70

November 24, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Drunk driving can and does cause tragic results. It’s amazing, then, that an 84-year-old Maryland motorist who police believe was driving under the influence of alcohol, did not kill anyone when he unknowingly drove the wrong way on Interstate 70 recently. As auto and truck accident attorneys, I and my colleagues have seen first-hand the results of similar events. This one, thank goodness, did not result in any fatalities or serious injuries, for that matter.

According to reports, Carroll Wayne Broome of Hagerstown was apparently intoxicated when he entered I-70 just after noontime on Monday, November 16, and drove eastbound through opposing traffic. Police say that Broome caused two separate accidents near exit 28 (near Maryland’s Route 632) and exit 29 (near route 65).

Surprisingly, no serious injuries were reported, according to reports. Law enforcement officials said that the first accident occurred when two other vehicles collided after Broome’s vehicle caused the other drivers to swerve to avoid the man near exit 28. The second accident occurred when a car, which was grazed by the man’s blue passenger vehicle, rear-ended another car that had slowed down to avoid a collision.

Maryland Woman Receives 8 Years for Vehicular Manslaughter and Causing Life-threatening Injuries

November 22, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

An Upperco, MD, woman was recently sentenced to eight years in prison for a fatal drunk driving-related traffic accident that occurred in 2008. According to reports, 65-year-old Mary Ann Farevagg received the sentence in a Baltimore County court. I and my firm, Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, have handled dozens of wrongful death cases stemming from car collisions. Drunk driving is one of the more common causes of on-road fatalities, something that police and legislators have bee trying to combat over the years.

In this instance, Ms. Farevaag apparently entered a guilty plea in Baltimore County Circuit Court for the December 16, 2008, car crash that killed 47-year-old Richard Daniel of Hampstead, Maryland. According to news reports, Daniel was riding in a second vehicle driven by his mother Sara Daniel, 72, who was critically injured in the head-on collision. Court records show that Sara Daniel sustained life-threatening injuries that required extensive in-hospital treatment.

The accident occurred on Black Rock Road near Trenton Road in Baltimore County, about a mile from Farevagg’s home. Prosecutors said that the vehicle Farevaag was driving crossed the center line at 8:40am and struck the Daniel’s car first, then hit several other vehicles before ending up in a nearby field.

University of Maryland Drunk Driving Checkpoint Dedicated to Student Killed in Fatal Accident

October 18, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Drunk driving in Baltimore and other parts of Maryland contribute substantially to annual traffic deaths. Many innocent people are killed or injured every year by drivers operating cars, trucks and SUVs under the influence of alcohol. This negligent behavior by these motorists causes much pain and suffering to individuals and families affected by their actions. As Maryland automobile accident attorneys, Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers is dedicated to helping those injured by drunk drivers.

A recent article mentioned a sobriety checkpoint near the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, that was dedicated to the memory of a young college coed who lost her life to the senselessness of a drunk driving accident. Traveling north on Maryland’s Route 1 the evening of September 24, motorists would have noticed an odd sight: a large photo of a smiling college-age girl.

The photo of Amanda Moore, a UMBC student who was killed by a drunk driver four years ago when she was 22, was placed at the front of a sobriety checkpoint set up by University Police.