Any type of car accident can cause the police officers who respond to the scene to be suspicious about drunk driving being involved. But, when a car collision involves injuries, that susceptibility to suspicion likely only rises. In a recent incident in Florida, a man was arrested on drunk driving charges after it was alleged that he ran a vehicle he was driving into a tiki bar, resulting in injuries for two people.
According to a recent report, the man, a 59-year-old Florida resident, allegedly caused the accident during the evening hours of April 13. The reports indicate that the man got into the vehicle of an acquaintance who was with him at the time and, at first, moved the car backwards. The reversing vehicle reportedly hit a power pole. The man then reportedly drove forward, striking his acquaintance. He then allegedly continued driving and slammed into a tiki bar, hitting four more people. One of those four people, along with the man’s acquaintance, suffered injuries in this incident. The injuries were reported to be non-life-threatening.
This most recent incident may be just one of many problems for the 59-year-old suspect. The reports indicate that this driver has previous drunk driving convictions on his record. As a result of the most recent conviction, in 2009, it appears that the suspect’s driver’s license was revoked permanently.
Any drunk driving case can present difficult facts to defend, but when injuries to other people are involved the case only gets trickier. The suspect in this recent incident, for example, is facing felony charges. People who find themselves in this type of situation need to carefully craft a criminal defense strategy.
Source: abcactionnews.com, “Man with history of DUI convictions faces new charge for injuring 2 people in Palm Harbor,” Ken Knight and Ryan Smith, April 14, 2018