Memphis Car Crash Deaths: Millington Family Asks Why
Each year, and it seems to always surround the holiday season, Memphis and our adjoining West Tennessee neighbors suffer some sort of a tragic loss. The Memphis Commercial Appeal (See this article), reported the deaths of three family members in all too short a period of time. What caught my eye was the incident near Nucor Steel. A personal injury client of mine reported to me just last week that this area has had numerous automobile accidents in the recent past. As a result of this article, I decided to investigate further because a few years ago, I had a jury trial involving such a case.
In the case in which I was involved as the trial lawyer, a Memphis LG&W worker who had just come off of a double shift, fell asleep at the wheel on Kirby Parkway in southeast Memphis. His car crossed over the center line and hit my West Tennessee client's car which resulted in severe personal injuries to both the driver and the passenger. Thankfully, neither of my client's died. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the MLG&W worker had been treated previously for a condition (sleep apnea) that caused him to unexpectedly fall asleep. Interestingly, the Tennessee appellate court held beginning with McCall vs. Wilder, that if a driver did not know (or have reason to know) of his or her medical problem before the crash, then the jury may consider this fact in comparing the fault of the parties.
As you can see from these maps, the site of this deadly crash is in an isolated and industrial area of President's Island in Memphis. The relatively flat terrain and sparse traffic is an open invitation for some persons to put the pedal to the metal. There is no certainty at all, at this point in time, that speed, alcohol or other factors contributed to this horrific situation.
We all have a tendency to think when we read of an event such as this that there must be some fault involved. While this is frequently true, it is equally true that the deaths could have resulted from an unavoidable accident. Time will tell us all how this senseless loss of life happened. In the mean time, all responsible observers will support the family and withhold making judgments of blame or fault.
