Defendant’s mother asks leniency re Florida fatal auto accident

On a recent Friday, at approximately 8 p.m., a man’s life was devastated. He had been traveling in Florida with his wife, who was driving their vehicle at the time. The events that unfolded led to criminal charges against another woman, whose mother appeared in court to ask the judge for leniency.

The vehicle carrying the man and his wife was reportedly hit hard from behind. The sudden impact sent the couple’s car barreling over a median, then sending it into multiple rolls before it halted after crashing into a fence. The man was treated and released from a nearby hospital after suffering minor injuries.

Sadly, his wife did not survive the incident. She was still alive when rescuers took her to the hospital but later succumbed to injuries she suffered after being impaled by the fence her vehicle had struck. The woman driving the car that hit the couple’s vehicle has been charged with vehicular homicide, DUI and DUI manslaughter. Her mother told the judge it was just an accident and asked that her daughter not be separated from her infant.

The Florida judge responded to the woman by saying that the fatal auto accident had been caused by her daughter, whose blood alcohol content level registered twice the legal limit at the time. An attorney present in the courtroom also corrected a statement the defendant’s mother had made about the decedent not wearing a proper seat restraint when the crash occurred. The attorney said the fatally injured victim had indeed been wearing her seat belt when the other car hit her from behind. Such incidents often lead to civil litigation as well, when immediate family members of deceased victims seek financial recovery for their losses against those responsible for their loved ones’ deaths.