Passenger Injured In Single Vehicle Collision After Police Chase

If you get injured in a car accident where you were a passenger, you have the right to seek compensation for your accident-related medical expenses and other financial losses associated with the accident by filing an insurance claim with the at fault driver’s liability insurance policy or filing a lawsuit against the at fault driver, even if the driver of the car where you were riding was at fault.  If something other than driver error caused the accident, you also have the right to seek damages from the responsible party, such as the manufacturer of a car that spontaneously malfunctioned or the city where the roads were in such poor condition that they caused cars to crash.  In accidents that involve two or more vehicles, insurance companies sometimes go through lengthy disputes about which driver bears which share of the fault; for example, if one driver made an illegal turn but the other driver was speeding, they both bear some of the fault.  In single vehicle accidents, there is usually little doubt about who or what caused the accident.  If you got injured in a single vehicle accident where you were a passenger, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.

Driver Crashed Into Tree While Trying to Elude Police

In June 2024, Antonio Cordell Crenshaw ran a stop sign near Shelter Cove in Hilton Head, so police pulled him over.  The officer smelled what he thought was cannabis smoke in the car, so he asked Crenshaw to get out of the car, but instead, Crenshaw drove away.  Since the traffic stop took place in a densely populated area, the police called off the chase shortly after, to reduce the risk that Crenshaw would strike another car in an attempt to elude the police.  Crenshaw apparently did not notice that the police car had stopped following him, because he did not reduce his speed.  Eventually he lost control of the car, drove off the road, and collided with a tree.  He was injured seriously enough to require treatment at a hospital, as was the passenger who was riding in the car with him.

Crenshaw, 22, is facing criminal charges for driving with a suspended license, fleeing from police, and illegal possession of MDMA.  The passenger has the right to file a lawsuit against him for endangering the passenger by fleeing from police, but that will probably not happen.  A more likely scenario is that the police department will face a lawsuit.  Another police department in South Carolina is facing a lawsuit arising from an accident caused by a driver trying to flee in a high-speed chase; in that case, the fleeing driver crashed into another car and killed the two women who were in the struck vehicle.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you got injured in a single vehicle accident where the driver was fleeing from police.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

wjcl.com/article/hilton-head-shelter-cove-traffic-stop-crash/61427031