TYLER, TX — Patrick Pugh was killed in a motorcycle accident in Tyler, Texas on Monday, October 6th, 2014. The article from CBS 19 said that the accident happened around 7:15 Monday evening.
23-year-old Patrick Pugh was killed when the motorcycle he was driving was hit by a passing car while driving near the intersection of Van Highway and Loop 323. Officials said that they believe the car failed to yield to the right of way when it turned and struck Pugh.
First responders rushed Pugh to East Texas Medical Center where he died a few hours after the accident.
The driver of the offending vehicle was identified as Donna Blackwood, who was cited for failure to yield to the right of way in connection with the accident.
The investigation is currently ongoing.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
A news report I see said that the offending driver was cited after the accident, and a lot of people are going to assume that this means an automatic victory in any kind of lawsuit. In reality, there is no such thing as a magic bullet, or a slam-dunk case. Just as you can have a speeding or parking ticket dismissed in a court of law, so can the offending driver in this case. Now, I’m not saying this harms the case by any stretch, because if the citation sticks, proving negligence won’t be very difficult from that point, but I also don’t want it lulling anybody into a false sense of security. With any kind of situation like this, time is important, and I’ve seen cases where an overconfident plaintiff rested on their laurels and let too much time lapse while their case dismantled.
–Grossman Law Offices
