13-Year-Old Killed in Car Accident
13-year-old Zachary Howard was struck and killed in a car accident on the side of the road in Webster, Florida. Investigators have revealed to news outlets that a 1991 Mercedes was going south on County Road 721 in Webster as the boy was walkin gon the west shoulder of the roadway. The driver fled the scene after the accident. The Mercedes was found later but the driver has yet to be located. Howard was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
Hit and run accidents are often fatal when they involve a pedestrian. It is a felony to leave the scene of an accident involving death, even if it was not the motorist's fault. The societal reason for doing is that there is greater good in remaining at the accident scene to call for help or increase the likelihood that someone will call for help. If the motorist leaves the accident scene and does not tell anyone, the chances of survival for the injured person go down dramatically. Leaving the scene of an accident is a bad fact for anyone who does it, but it also may become the basis of civil liability because there is a duty to stop and render aid (by calling help if available) in Florida. It is difficult to speculate whether the injured person would have survived had someone rendered aid or called for help. If you or a loved one has been involved in a hit and run accident in the greater Central Florida area, you should probably seek the advice of legal counsel to examine the facts and circumstances of your case. There may be a variety of legal inssues that you were not aware of or may not have considered. There is also a $5,000 PIP/no-fault death benefit in Florida that can be paid from an insurance policy covering either the injured person or the at-fault driver in some circumstances. In order to bring a legal claim for a deceased person in Florida, someone must open a probate and have a personal representative appointed. Apersonal injury or car accident lawyer with Moody Law can help answer these questions and more at a free consultation with one of our lawyers.
