Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Fatal car crashes leave behind more than broken families; sometimes they can also spell the end of young and promising lives. As Baltimore personal injury attorneys, I and my colleagues have felt the very deep and profound sadness of loss from victims’ families and others who have known the deceased. Sadly, individuals who have been killed in a senseless auto, truck of motorcycle wreck will never again share time with their loved ones, and no amount of compensation can ever change that.
When a young person dies in a traffic accident, many who were close to that individual may ask themselves if anything could have been done to avoid or mitigate the collision. Second guessing and running “what if” scenarios in one’s mind are normal ways in which survivors may grieve, though in the end it may be better to celebrate the person’s life then to replay past events to the exclusion of all else.
As automobile accident lawyers, our job is to help families of victims recover costs for medical treatment, lost wages, and even attain compensation for the loss of companionship, love and comfort of that person. In fact, death does eliminate the right of a family to seek compensation for the loss of a loved one when wrongful death through the negligent act of another is the issue.
Not long ago, a university student was killed in a Fells Point car accident. According to news reports, the 23-year-old Morgan State University student died along with another person when the student’s truck apparently ran a red light and collided with a second car. Based on police reports, Julian Benson was behind the wheel of a Dodge Durango going northbound along a stretch of S. Broadway when the collision happened a little after 10pm on a Thursday evening.
According to police reports, Benson’s sport utility vehicle hit a Mitsubishi Eclipse passenger car though police could not be certain if one or both vehicles were possibly speeding at the time of the wreck. At the time of the news article, police investigators were still trying to piece together the collision as they tried to ascertain whether one or both vehicles were traveling in excess of the posted speed limit.
Following the crash, police and emergency responders arrived at the crash site to help the victims. Benson, who apparently was critically injured in the crash, was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he died a short while later. Another individual — an 18-year-old Baltimore resident — who was riding in the front passenger seat of the Mitsubishi also died at the hospital. News reports stated that the Mitsubishi’s driver and a passenger riding in the Durango both sustained minor injuries during the collision.
At the time of the news article, local police investigators were still in the process of reconstructing the crash and had already interviewed several witnesses to the wreck. No mention was made as to a definitive cause for the accident, such as driver error, mechanical defect, or poor weather/road conditions. Police did suspect that speed was likely a factor, but had not completed their investigation by the time the news was published.
Popular Morgan State student among two killed in Fells Point crash, BaltimoreSun.com, October 21, 2011