A suspected drunk man in an SUV plowed into a crowd in New Orleans Saturday night, injuring at least 28. The crowd was enjoying a parade in the middle of the city during the Mardi Gras celebration.
Th accident happened at one of the busiest times of Mardi Gras as thousands of people line the streets of Mid-City New Orleans to watch the floats pass by.
According to the New Orleans Police Department, the driver is suspected to have been intoxicated. At least 28 people were hurt, and 21 were taken to a nearby hospital. Five of them were in guarded condition. The victims were as young as three years old and up to adults in their 30s and 40s.
The police and witnesses stated that the SUV driver appeared to be highly intoxicated and ‘out of it.’
Our View
Our drunk driving personal injury attorneys licensed in Virginia and North Carolina are glad that no one was killed in this apparent DUI accident. Drunk driving deaths are far too common: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that 9967 people died in drunk driving crashes in 2014. The CDC reports that more than 1.1 million drivers were arrested for drunk driving in 2014.
Even though no one died in this tragic drunk driving wreck, there are certainly people who have been seriously injured. When pedestrians are struck by a moving vehicle, the physical and emotional trauma is often severe. It can be very important for the drunk driving victim’s ultimate recovery to file a civil lawsuit to obtain compensation for personal injuries.
Our Virginia drunk driving attorneys had a client in Norfolk who was walking out of the gym when a drunk driver literally drove onto the sidewalk and struck him. Our client had serious injuries to his lower leg. The drunk driver had a blood alcohol content of more than double the Virginia legal limit.
Our personal injury attorneys found out that the drunk driver only had $100,000 of liability coverage on her policy. We advised our client that he may be able to obtain more compensation from his own policy. By law, if another driver causes an accident with personal injury, you may receive benefits on your own uninsured driver coverage and not pay higher premiums.
Our drunk driving victim client had to have four surgeries on his leg. He suffered substantial pain, could not enjoy his daily activities for many months, and had weeks of lost work time.
We ultimately settled the Norfolk, Virginia drunk driving case for a substantial amount that was satisfactory to our client
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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