Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog

Two North Carolina Bicyclists Dead After Hit-And-Run Accident :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

October 3, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What exactly is a wrongful death claim?”

Police in Chapel Hill, NC say that a second bike rider has died after being involved in a hit-and-run accident last week. Authorities say the accident happened as the cyclists were heading south along U.S. Highway 15/501 at around 11:30 p.m. Thursday evening.

While the two cyclists, Alexandra Simou and Ivin Scurlock, were riding south of Chapel Hill, police say they were hit from behind by a passenger vehicle. The force of the collision was great and Scurlock died at the scene of the accident. A spokesperson for UNC Hospitals said that Simou was transported to the facility for treatment and died on Sunday from her injuries.

A ghost bike has since been placed at the scene of the accident by family and friends to serve as a memorial for the couple. Ghost bikes are white bicycle replicas, usually miniature versions of bikes, which are placed along roadsides to serve as memorials for those who have been killed in car accidents. The bikes are meant to serve as eerie reminders of the damage a car can do to those simply out for a ride. The ghost bike memorials are not just a North Carolina phenomenon, but have been popping up all around the world, with one website listing some 600 of them in more than 100 U.S. citizens and nearly two-dozen countries.

According to North Carolina Highway Patrol officials, authorities are still searching for the car that hit the rider. So far police say they believe the vehicle is a sedan that has some front-end damage and likely a damaged windshield. Anyone with information about the accident is urged to contact his or her local law enforcement officials.

Overall, hundreds of cyclists die and thousands more are injured in tragic accidents just like this one every year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 618 cyclists were killed and 52,000 injured in crashes with motor vehicles in 2010 alone. The number of deaths is far too high and speaks to how much work remains to be done to educate drivers about the importance of watching out for cyclists.

Man Responsible For Deadly Charlotte Hit-And-Run Apprehended :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

October 1, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “Are the laws or rules applying to a wrongful death claim different from a personal injury not involving death?”

Police in Charlotte say they have charged an 18-year-old driver with involuntary manslaughter after a deadly accident occurred in south Charlotte last week. The hit-and-run collision left a 19-year-old driver and a three-year-old passenger dead.

According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, the accident took place last Wednesday at around 6 p.m. on Sharon Road West. Authorities say a 2002 Mercy Sable collided with a utility pole near the intersection with Hopeton Road. The driver of that car, a 19-year-old named Shaquise Bush, died at the scene of the crash. A passenger in that car, Shanquise Wilson, was seriously injured and taken to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment.

Three other small children in the car, an 18-month-old girl, a 22-month-old girl and a three-year-old boy, were all critically injured. Authorities say it was after being taken to the hospital that the three-year-old succumbed to the traumatic injuries he suffered in the accident.

Police say they received a tip that a white pickup truck, driven by Uriel Eduardo Flores, was involved in the accident but took off from the crash scene before police officers were able to arrive on location. Flores later turned himself into police and was questioned by investigators about his role in the accident. Police say they are still investigating exactly what caused the deadly crash. In the meantime, Flores is now facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.

Debris From Dump Truck Kills Unsuspecting Driver In Rural North Carolina :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 26, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What exactly is a wrongful death claim?”

In a truly tragic case out of North Carolina, officials say a large rock that came rolling out of the back of a dump truck is responsible for an unsuspecting driver’s death. Officials with the North Carolina Highway Patrol say that a rock flew through the window of a car on U.S. Highway 221 while it the driver was winding his way through the North Carolina mountains.

Police say that the rock was the size of a basketball and weighed nearly 25 pounds. The rock fell off the back of the truck and landed on the driver, killing him almost immediately. According to a statement from the Highway Patrol, the large rock fell off the back of a northbound dump truck, hit the road once time and bounced upward, ultimately striking the windshield of a Mercedes heading southbound.

Authorities say the rock was one of many loaded into the dump truck that was hauling the rocks to a construction site in nearby Avery County. Police say that the driver of the truck had no idea there was a problem until another driver flagged him down more than a mile from where the deadly accident occurred.

Police say that the accident is an especially tragic reminder of how important it is for commercial vehicles to have their equipment inspected regularly and be up to legal standards. Authorities say that when officers inspected the truck involved in the crash it was clear that there were a lot of equipment violations. An official with the Highway Patrol went so far as to say the dump truck was a faulty vehicle that clearly should not have been allowed on the road.

Georgia Woman Shocked When E-Cigarette Shoots Flames Across Living Room :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 24, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What can you sue for in a personal injury case?”

One woman from Atlanta learned first hand just how dangerous smoking could be. Though the case of Elizabeth Wilkowski is different than you might be expecting given that the danger she saw was not due to lung cancer or other conditions related to cigarette smoking. In her case, an e-cigarette she had been using to cut back on the real stuff exploded and lit a large portion of her living room on fire.

The wild case has received national attention after Wilkowski says she had her eHit electronic cigarette plugged into her computer’s USB port to charge. While plugged in, the device suddenly, and without warning, began shooting flames across the living room, burning a hole in her carpet and sofa. Wilkowski was quick on her feet and moved her pets away from the area while wrapping her hand in a nearby towel so that she could get close enough to the computer to unplug the faulty device.

Wilkowski said once she had unplugged it from the computer the flames finally abated. She has since contacted the store where she purchased the e-cigarette and informed the owners of the incident. The store says it has pulled all eHits off its shelves. A company known as Shenzhen Seego Technology makes the cigarette in China.

While Wilkowski learned a valuable lesson about the dangers lurking in supposedly safe e-cigarettes, the industry is a massive one with more than three million such devices on the market today. Though no one believes exploding cigarettes are common, there have been more disturbing incidents than many people may realize.

Within only the last few months, stories of fires started by exploding e-cigarettes have been reported in California, Oklahoma, Arizona and Florida. Several people say that their houses nearly burned down due to battery explosions that occurred while their electronic cigarettes were charging.

Plane Crash Leads To Embarrassing And Literal Cover-Up :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 19, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “Can I wait a few months to pursue a personal injury claim?”

A recent airline accident at the Bangkok International Airport led to a bizarre cover-up attempt that ended up creating worse media attention than the accident itself. The incident involved a Thai Airways jet that skidded off the runway last week seconds after landing. The accident was thankfully not too severe, with less than 20 people out of the 288 on board suffering injuries.

According to news reports, once the airline had successfully evacuated passengers from the plane, the company almost immediately went to work trying to hide their connection with the crashed jet. Within hours of the crash, maintenance men wielding black paint brushes were spotted painting over the plane’s prominent purple and gold logo. In no time, all the identifying marks on the plane had been covered-up. Thai Airways believed that this attempt at “de-identification” would help avoid thousands of damaging photos being circulated with the company’s logo being associated with a crashed plane.

Unfortunately for Thai Airways, they forgot that this is the era of Instagram. In the current time of instant communication, pictures of the plane before, during and after the cover-up were beamed around the world, subjecting the company to even more negative attention than the relatively minor accident. Passengers began Tweeting images of paint crews and noted how botched the attempt to hide the plane was from a public relations standpoint.

The problem became even worse when a Thai Airways spokesperson came out in defense of the cover-up and said that the actions were only taken in accordance with crisis communication rules of the Star Alliance network it is a part of. Thai Airways said that all Star Alliance members (including United and US Airways) are required to de-identify any airplanes involved in an accident. Almost immediately after making the claim a Star Alliance spokesperson flatly rejected it as untrue, clarifying that no such guidelines exist.

Drunk Driver Hits And Kills North Carolina Motorcyclist :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 17, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “If I am injured in a car accident or at work what should I do?”

A motorcyclist in North Carolina died earlier this month after being hit by a drunk driver. According to a local ABC News station, 52-year-old Bradley Pelletier of Raleigh died after he was hit by 25-year-old Lakeisha Jones.

Officers who responded to the accident scene say that Pelletier was heading north on Wake Forest Road just after midnight while Jones’ Chevrolet sedan was heading south. Police say that Jones then attempted to make a left turn onto Creekside Drive when she crashed directly into Pelletier’s motorcycle.

Police on the scene detected signs of intoxication and have since charged Jones with DWI. Officials say that in addition to driving while impaired, Jones and her two passengers were also not wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident.

Our hearts go out to the family of Pelletier who did nothing wrong in the crash and yet paid the ultimate price for another person’s poor choices. The fact is that drinking and driving is deadly and that the more alcohol that a person consumes the more likely it is that he or she will be involved in accident.

Studies have definitively shown that a driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10 or greater is seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash than is a driver who has not consumed alcoholic beverages, and a driver with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or greater is about 25 times more likely.

Tight Bike Lanes Lead To “Dooring” Danger :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 12, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “Do I have to sign a release allowing the insurance company to get my medical records?”

City Council members in Raleigh, NC say they are examining the current location of bike lanes and whether the lanes are so tight that bicyclists are actually put in harms way. The reason for the examination is that some bikers have complained about being injured by “dooring”, the term for what happens when a bicyclist runs into an open car door.

To help remedy the problem, a local cycling organization, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC), suggests that laws be changed to say that it is illegal for a motorist to open the door of their vehicle on the side that faces moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so. Though dooring might seem like a minor annoyance, BPAC leaders say that the practice can frequently turn deadly. BPAC says that they hope local lawmakers in North Carolina will make it clear that it is the responsibility of the person opening their door to be sure that the door has sufficient clearance.

BPAC leaders said that they are working at the local level to push for dooring changes given that North Carolina is one of only 10 states across the country without a dooring law already in place. A survey of state laws found that besides North Carolina, the following states lack dooring regulations: Virginia, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee and West Virginia. Even Alaska, where there are surely few instances of cyclists being endangered on congested streets, has passed an anti-dooring law.

One council member noted that cyclists must also have some responsibility for their own safety and use common sense to stay alert when they see an approaching vehicle has just parked. The city council considered the dooring proposal, but said that before they feel comfortable voting on the issue they would like to have staff gather statistical data on the number of accidents that involve dooring and how best to remedy the problem.

Front Yard Fire Leads To North Carolina Man’s Death :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 10, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “Are the laws or rules applying to a wrongful death claim different from a personal injury not involving death?”

Police in Fayetteville, North Carolina say that a man standing near a fire pit at a North Carolina home died after a terrible explosion. Authorities say the deadly accident happened last weekend, late one Saturday night when a group of friends and family were gathered around a front yard fire.

According to a spokesperson for the police department, one man, 28-year-old Martin Antoine Blossom, died and at least four other people sustained serious injuries as a result of the fire pit explosion. Police have not yet said how or why the explosion occurred, but say they do believe the incident was accidental.

Emergency responders say that beyond the fatality, two other men were injured in the fire pit explosion along with a woman and a young 14-year-old girl. All four of those injured were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Commercially manufactured fire pits have grown in popularity in recent years are commonly used for social gatherings. While they are perfectly legal, fire pits can pose serious risks, especially if used improperly. Experts say that every year fire pits are blamed for house fires, serious injuries and even deaths. As a result, anyone considering using a fire pit at his or her home should consider the following safety tips.

First thing, be sure to set up the fire pit on a solid surface away from any buildings or overhanging rooflines or trees. Next, be sure to clear any and all combustibles away from the fire pit. This includes leaves, dry grass, pine needles and patio furniture. Keep a working fire extinguisher nearby as well as a water source. Never use a fire pit during windy conditions as you will not be able to control where embers are blown. Keep fires small and under control and be sure that children stay away from the fire pit in case the pit accidentally tips over. Never leave a fire pit unattended and be sure when you are done to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for how to put out the fire and safely dispose of the ash.

North Carolina Texting Laws Not Tough Enough According to Federal Government :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 5, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “Is a tractor-trailer accident the same as an automobile accident?”

North Carolina lawmakers were surprised when the state lost an opportunity to receive grant money from the federal government that would have gone towards efforts to fund a campaign aimed at warning drivers about the dangers of distraction behind the wheel. North Carolina, along with 31 other states, lost the money because the Department of Transportation decided that the state’s existing texting laws were not strict enough.

Many people understand that North Carolina law prohibits texting and driving and might therefore be confused to learn that the state’s law did not measure up, at least according to guidelines created by the Department of Transportation. According to the DOT, for a state to receive the $300,000 grant it would have to have in place stringent measures that prevented drivers from engaging in a range of distracted driving.

North Carolina already has primary enforcement laws in place, a step in the right direction. These primary laws allow police officers to pull over people for texting alone and do not require another offense to justify pulling a car over. However, the DOT says that North Carolina’s law failed to define “texting” and “driving” in ways that were tough enough.

For instance, North Carolina’s law defines “texting” as either texting or emailing from a cellphone. The DOT wanted all states that receive the grant to have texting defined more broadly to include things like surfing the web and using a tablet computer, not just a smart phone. Another problem was North Carolina’s definition of “driving.” The state’s law says that texting is prohibited when the car is in motion, but is permitted when the car is stopped, even temporarily. Federal regulations say that texting is prohibited when a car is only temporarily stopped, a distinction that North Carolina’s law lacked.

North Carolina College Student Dies After Being Thrown From Motorcycle :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

September 3, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “The insurance company wants to send me to their own doctor for a second opinion. Do I have to go?”

In an episode that highlights just how dangerous motorcycle riding can be, a freshman at North Carolina A&T was killed late last month after his bike collided with a stopped vehicle. The force of the accident threw the motorcyclist into oncoming traffic, causing severe injuries that led to his death.

According to police, Xavier Watkins died while riding his 2012 Yamaha motorcycle sometime after 10:30 p.m. Police say Watkins was traveling around 50 miles per hour when he collided with a vehicle that had stopped at a stop sign.

Authorities say that the impact with a stopped car caused Watkins to be thrown from his bike and fly more than 97 feet in the air before landing in oncoming traffic. Emergency responders say Watkins was taken to Moses Cone Hospital with multiple broken bones and a variety of other severe injuries. Sadly, Watkins died several days later from his injuries.

According to public safety experts, the kinds of injuries caused by motorcycle accidents can be incredibly severe and wide ranging, depending a lot on the circumstances of the accident itself. Concussion and brain damage are common results of accidents where drivers are thrown from their bikes given the force with which the riders hit the pavement. Wearing a helmet reduces your risk of death by 37 percent, though by no means ensures your survival. Other common injuries in motorcycle accidents where a rider has been thrown from a bike incudes broken arms, legs, shoulders, hips, knees and wrists. Arms and legs are most vulnerable to breakage given a person’s natural instinct to use them to break their fall.