Last week the Rocky Mount, North Carolina (N.C.) Police charged 44 year-old Antonia Lawrence with DWI and Child Abuse. The father was arrested for taking his kids along for a ride on his moped while he was intoxicated. He was also cited for riding without a helmet.
According to the Rocky Mount Police, the father, Lawrence, told them he was giving his seven and ten year-old children a ride on his moped when he ran off the side of the road, turning it over in a crash. The father’s two children suffered broken legs but have been listed in stable condition according to the police.
Drivers that carry small children as passengers on motorcycles seem to not think about how careless this is. Small children do not have a chance, even with helmets, in a motorcycle accident. While driving on the freeways I have seen motorcycles exceeding the speed limits and a small child sitting behind the driver. I suppose that maybe the parent is looking at saving gas taking them on the motorcycle; however, the safety factor is not worth the risk, especially at high speed on the freeways.
Adult passengers have a better ability to survive a motorcycle accident and adjust to road conditions, they can see around the driver, a child is riding blind and only secured by his own small hand grip and unable to see any of the surrounding traffic. Riding a motorcycle might thrill a child but the risk is too great. The father of this incident has to carry all the blame and loss for allowing this behavior and accident.
Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Carolina injury law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.
BM
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.
Comments for this article are closed.