TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, AL — Both Matthew Wallace and David Carson were killed in a helicopter crash that was reported in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama on Tuesday, August 19th, 2014. The news says the the helicopter went down sometime Wednesday afternoon near Blue Creek Road.
51–year-old Matthew Wallace and 63-year-old David Carson were killed when the McDonnell Douglas 369e helicopter they were in crashed while examining transmission lines in rural Tuscaloosa County. The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation at this time. Carson was working for Alabama Power, and Wallace was a contractor from RotorWorks LLC at the time of the accident.
Carson and Wallace were pronounced dead when rescue crews arrived at the scene.
The investigation is being handled by several agencies.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
Bearing in mind just how business friendly Alabama laws tend to be, the family of the victim in this accident may believe that this is strictly a work related accident where woefully inadequate workers compensation is the only recourse, but they’d be off-target. In reality, because the helicopter was contracted, and the victim was not affiliated with the company, the family is going to have a much wider array of legal rights and options than an employee would against their employer. In this case, the claim would not be against the victim’s employer, but instead would be aimed at the helicopter contractor involved in the accident. This is extremely helpful in situations that would otherwise leave a family in financial dire straits with the lowest possible compensation awarded by workers’ comp.
