Wisconsin Man Sentenced in Fatal Drunk Driving Accident
On behalf of Milwaukee personal injury attorney Ric Domnitz of Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. posted in Drunk Driving Accidents on Friday, March 14, 2014.
Driving during the winter months can often be difficult because of ice and slick spots on the roadways. Accidents during these months aren’t uncommon. Sadly, some of these accidents are fatal tragedies. For one Wisconsin man, an ice fishing trip with his buddy ended in his death. That fatal car accident has landed his friend a three year prison sentence.
The two men went ice fishing together on Jan. 7, 2012, when the accident occurred. The vehicle they were in broke through the ice on the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. One man was pulled to safety by bystanders, but the other man died because bystanders were unable to reach him. The victim’s body was recovered the next day.
The details of the drunk driving accident aren’t all clear. The surviving man says that he was initially driving the vehicle, but that he and the victim switched places moments before the accident. Investigators say that there is a “strong possibility” that the survivor was driving at the time of the accident. They were, however, unable to prove that he was driving.
One thing that isn’t disputed is that the survivor was drunk at the time of the accident. He told officers that he had drank a 12-pack of beer prior to the crash. After he was rescued, his blood-alcohol level was 0.152.
In connection with the accident, the man received a three-year prison sentence and three years of supervision after he is released from prison for a conviction of felony fourth-offense drunken driving. Homicide charges against the man were dropped in January of this year.
The judge in this case remarked that it is a case in which nobody would be satisfied. He said the victim’s family will be devastated from his loss six years from now. The man’s family might have the right to seek compensation for his death. This wouldn’t alleviate the devastation they feel, but it might help to alleviate financial difficulties the family is facing.
Source: WisconsinRapidsTribune.com, “Update: Stratford man gets three years in ice-fishing death” Shereen Siewert, Mar. 07, 2014 (source removed)
If you need legal representation following an accident through no fault of your own, contact a Milwaukee personal injury attorney with Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C.