Houston, TX — A man was hit and injured during an early-morning accident today in southeast Houston, Monday, December 15, 2014. Police said that a man was struck by a car while he crossed Telephone Road at Airport Road.
That’s on the northwest side of the Hobby Airport. The accident happened at about 3:00 a.m. this Monday morning, as a man was trying to walk across Telephone Road. A passing dark-colored sedan crashed into the man and he struck the driver’s side of the car.
The pedestrian was badly injured and had to be immediately taken to a hospital. The driver of the car, however, was being investigated by the HPD and the news reports said he might face charges. The nature of the charges weren’t specified, though.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
There are lots of reasons the driver here might be facing charges, but at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, I think most obvious one is an alcohol-related charge. Hypothetically speaking, why would it matter what kind of charge the driver gets here?
In terms of helping the victim who was hit, it can make a big difference. First, there’s obviously going to be an insurance claim against this driver (provided he has insurance) for the damages caused by the accident. But beyond that, there may be someone else who contributed to this accident that the news reports didn’t mention: a potential bar. When someone drives under the influence of alcohol, they are clearly making their own decisions. But, in our hypothetical situation, imagine that person came from a bar.
Texas law clearly says that it’s prohibited for bartenders to serve customers who are obviously under the influence, and to do so makes them open to being named in a lawsuit should any accident happen. To put it plainly, the consequence of over-serving a customer who’s already drunk is that the bar can be sued for their contribution to any accident that driver gets into later on.
My point here isn’t to insinuate that everyone in an early-morning accident was at a bar, getting drunk. But, if that’s the case, then it’s always a good idea to look into an investigation because there are often other avenues of recovery to be had.
— Grossman Law Offices
