When someone decides to drink and drive, they have to accept the consequences of their actions. Sometimes, the person who gets injured is the driver. Other times, it’s an innocent victim who was minding their own business. Other times, it’s a passenger in the car of the drunk driver. Regardless of how it happens, when someone dies as a result, it’s devastating.
This is what happened in Athens, Georgia recently. 29-year old Johnny Todd Carruthers was driving his 2002 Acura down Highway 29. He said he was trying to avoid hitting a deer and swerved off the road. He ended up crashing his car and landing in an embankment.
After the crash, the driver’s passenger, 37-year old Johnrico Deon Smith, also of Athens, got out of the car. Presumably, immediately following the crash, Smith was fine. However, when he got out of the car, he was hit by another vehicle. A woman driving a 2014 Dodge Charger didn’t see Smith and ended up hitting him. He was seriously injured and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Carruthers suffered a head injury from hitting his head on the windshield of his car during impact.
While Carruthers wasn’t directly responsible for the death of his passenger, he has still been held legally responsible. He has been charged with a slew of offenses including DUI, failure to maintain lanes, speeding, open container and vehicular homicide. The police have arrested him for the death of Smith. Even though he didn’t run Smith over, it was his drunk driving that caused the accident in the first place.
If you or your loved one are injured in a drunk driving accident, call our Athens DUI attorneys right away.
Source: https://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/report-athens-man-charged-with-vehicular-homicide-but-didn-hit-anyone/xj5fbyZOhqbkyM3uicD8YP/