Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
As Baltimore automobile accident attorney, I hear about numerous fatal car crashes that occur throughout Maryland every year. Some collisions happen as a result of driver error, while others are sometimes caused by defective vehicle equipment, such as poorly maintained brakes and tires, faulty safety components or defective suspension or steering systems.
Whatever the cause of a traffic accident, car-pedestrian collisions can be some of the worst, which also includes car-motorcycle and car-bicycle crashes. In all of these kinds of collisions, the person on foot or on two wheels has a very good chance of being severely hurt or even killed as a result.
A recent news article showed that one man, a Columbia resident, was sentenced to six months in jail following the death of an elderly woman he hit with his vehicle in November 2009. According to reports, 82-year-old Ayten Icgoren died the day after she was struck while trying to cross the street near the Owen Brown Village Center.
Police reports indicated that two witnesses saw 53-year James Walden Beaman Jr. hit the woman with his pickup truck and then leave the scene of the accident. The witnesses stated that Beaman’s white Toyota wobbled and seemed to skid as he tried to stop on the wet pavement. Icgoren apparently tried to get out of the way but wasn’t fast enough to escape injury.
Police said that the driver then drove a short way to the village center, then reportedly returned after police and paramedics arrived at the scene of the collision. Although Beaman plead not guilty last May, but reportedly agreed to the facts presented by the prosecution during a hearing.
It was only recently that Beaman was sentenced to 18 months in jail, but most of the sentence was suspended with the defendant having to spend just six months in jail. Convicted for failing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk as well as leaving the scene of the accident, the man was also ordered to complete 500 hours of community service, plus two years of supervised probation.
Columbia man jailed for hit and run, BaltimoreSun.com, July 15, 2010