Despite the efforts of public information campaigns and law enforcement, drinking and driving remains a major cause of car accidents every year in Louisiana. Drivers who drink before they drive often believe they are sober enough to drive home. When drivers make the mistake of drinking and driving, it is often the drivers and passengers of other automobiles that pay the price.
A man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana has pled guilty to alcohol-related vehicular homicide charges related to a drinking and driving car accident that killed five members of a family from Georgia. The fatal car accident occurred on October 2, 2009. The 31-year-old Baton Rouge man was driving his 2005 Ford pickup on Interstate 10 around 2 a.m. when he slammed into the rear of a 1994 pickup that was stopped near the Siegen Lane overpass.
The 1994 pickup was stopped because of road construction and burst into flames on impact. The vehicle fire burned all five occupants of the pickup and subjected them all to third degree burns. A two-year-old who was in the 1994 pickup died at the scene of the accident. The four other occupants of the pickup were a 54-year-old mother, her two daughters who were 35 and 27 years old and her 22-year-old son. All four later died from their injuries. The 27-year-old woman was the mother of the 2-year-old.
The 31-year-old driver had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 percent after the crash and said he looked away from the road to find a cellphone he dropped before the accident. When he looked back up, he hit the pickup in front of him.
Source: Daily World, “Man pleads guilty in fatal car crash,” 6/7/11
