Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog

Alcohol consumption might be a factor in a tragedy that has stunned the Gwinnett County community. As a Gwinnett County car accident and wrongful death lawyer, I am saddened to report that drivers in our area simply have not learned the lesson that we know can lead to injury or death.

What happened to the two teens is under review. Authorities are piecing together the tragedy that took the lives of these young people. The two teens were cashiers at Kroger's in Grayson. They were tragically killed, and three others were injured, in this terrible car crash in Gwinnett County. The crash was a three-car head-on collision.

What we know thus far is as follows. One deceased teen was driving and the other was a passenger in the car, when the collision took place at the intersection of Webb Gin House Road and Grayson Highway. A third teen was a passenger in the back seat and was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in critical condition.

It is thought that the vehicle driven by the teen, crossed the center line and swiped another car coming in the opposite direction. That vehicle's driver suffered only minor injuries, as did her passenger. The vehicle driven by the teen then spun out of control after the side-swipe over the center line and struck the third vehicle, a pick-up truck being driven by the driver who was then charged with DUI.

Grayson High School is grieving the loss of young life, as am I. We cannot know for sure whether the DUI driver could have evaded the oncoming vehicle had his response time been unimpaired. This is why it is a horrific mistake to drink and drive.

Georgia law is stringent and clear when it comes to DUI. The Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 40-6-391 prohibits driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or other intoxicating substances. The penalties for driving under the influence are also found in this provision. Drivers convicted of violating this provision are guilty of a misdemeanor on a first and second conviction, but on a third conviction drivers are guilty of a high and aggravated misdemeanor, and on a fourth or more conviction drivers are guilty of a felony. The penalties for these stepped-up convictions include monetary fines and prison sentences.

For many years now, I have been a financial supporter of Georgia Mothers Against Drunk Driving and I have also served as a member of the MADD executive committee. In my catastrophic personal injury law practice, I have represented the injured victims of drunk drivers. Like all supporters of Georgia Mothers Against Drunk Driving, I will continue to support the effort to get the message out that drinking and driving must be eliminated.

If you have been injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver, please contact The Law Offices of P. Charles Scholle, for a free consultation. We have conveniently located offices in Duluth and throughout the Atlanta area. We are able to support victims in pursuing their legal rights and recover from their injuries from these convenient locations.

I have been a financial supporter of Georgia Mothers Against Drunk Driving for many years, also serving as a member of the MADD executive committee. I have represented the victims of drunk drivers in my Gwinnett County catastrophic injury law practice. Every day in Georgia, drunk drivers cause injury and death. They should not be in a car. They should not be driving. And they should not have children with them.

Earlier this week, a woman who police said is a Cobb County resident, was arrested for driving under the influence of both alcohol and pain medication. She also had the drug Ecstasy in her car. In addition to the medications she had in the car, she also had two small children, ages 3 and 7, riding as passengers. The nature of her relationship with them was not reported.

According the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the woman was driving her SUV, a Toyota 4Runner with her passengers on Cobb Parkway when Acworth police officers observed her weaving. She was not able to stay in her lane and crossed over it several times. She was pulled over due to this.

The police arrested and charged her with several criminal counts. These include DUI, two counts of DUI child endangerment, an open container (she had an open bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade in the car), a failure to maintain her lane and possession of illegal drugs.

Apparently, on the stop with police, she admitted to having had a drink within the hour prior to the stop. She also told the police that she had taken prescription pain medication.

The National Highway Safety Administration has noted that many states have statutes that provide for an enhanced DUI when a person is driving drunk with children in the car. Cobb County officials have charged her with child endangerment, which is considered to be the appropriate charge to address the inherent dangers of impaired driving when there are children in the vehicle.

Earlier this year, Jan Withers, National President of MADD, wrote a post entitled "Drunk Driving Can Be a Form of Child Endangerment" in which she recounts many tragic examples of children who were the victims of a drunk driver. In each case, the children were innocent passengers in a car driven by a drunk driver.

Ms. Withers advocates for the universal understanding across the country that the child endangerment laws should come into play in cases in which children are passengers with a drunk driver. So do I.

Drunk drivers cause injury and death on Georgia's roads. If you have been injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver, please contact The Law Offices of P. Charles Scholle, for a free consultation. With offices in Duluth and throughout the Atlanta area, we are able to support victims in pursuing their legal rights and recover from their injuries.

Last month, the Georgia Supreme Court issued an opinion of interest to all Georgians who want safer highways. In my work as a Gwinnett County personal injury lawyer and having represented many injured victims of Georgia drunk drivers, the opinion in Flores v. Exprezit! Stores 98-Georgia, LLC, resolves an important Georgia legal issue.

In the Flores case, a noticeably drunk customer was sold alcoholic beverages, specifically a 12 pack of beer, at a convenience store. After the customer purchased the beer, he got back in his car and back on the road.

Several hours later he crossed the centerline of a highway and struck a van that was in the oncoming lane. Six people died in this accident and others were injured. The blood alcohol level of the drunk driver was twice the legal limit.

The injured passengers filed a lawsuit under what is referred to informally as "the dram shop act." Many states have laws like Georgia's law that traditionally impose liability on anyone who provides or sells alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated, when the intoxicated person does something that causes injuries to another person.

In this case, the convenience store owners and operators were named as defendants in the case. After both the trial court and the Court of Appeals determined that that the dram shop act was not applicable when alcohol is sold for consumption off premises, the Georgia Supreme Court decided to review the case and it reversed the lower courts.

The court found that Georgia's dram shop act does apply to situations in which a visibly drunk customer is sold alcohol even when that alcohol will not be consumed on the premises of the store. That is because the court said that it is reasonably foreseeable to assume that the already intoxicated customer will in fact drink, and then drive.

A plaintiff bringing a lawsuit against a store, must prove that a particular customer is noticeably drunk. That will likely be difficult in some cases, but it is a warning to convenience stores that they must be careful about their sale to anyone that might be drunk already.

The Supreme Court said that it disagreed with the lower courts' interpretation of the statute saying it would mean that a convenience store would not be "held liable for selling closed or packaged alcoholic beverages to a noticeably intoxicated adult under any set of circumstances."

Courts are tasked with construing statutes, and when they do they must try to determine the purpose and intent of the legislature and then try to construe the law to implement that intent. In this case, the court said that the statute was plain and susceptible of one natural and reasonable construction and due to that it did not have the authority to alter its construction.

For many years, I have been involved in trying to stop the tragedy of drinking and driving. As a supporter of Georgia's Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, I hope for the elimination of this deadly activity. As an Atlanta, Georgia dram shop attorney, I know that when victims are injured or are killed due to a drunk driver, it is important that they recover from their injuries and in that way, I hope to help families heal from these tragedies.

If you have been injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver, please contact The Law Offices of P. Charles Scholle, for a free consultation. With offices in Duluth and throughout the Atlanta area, we are able to support victims in pursuing their legal rights and recover from their injuries.

Early this morning, the Cobb County I-575 ramp at Chastain Road became deadly for a 19-year old car passenger. The driver apparently crossed the ramp and tumbled down an embankment into trees below. Authorities say that it is possible that excessive speed and alcohol may be the reason for this tragedy.

The driver, a 21-year old man and two other passengers were hurt in the crash and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. It is likely that charges will be filed against the driver and his life will be forever changed because of this tragic single-car crash.

Across the Atlanta metro region and throughout Georgia, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can be deadly. When taking the wheel of a motor vehicle, it is important to remember that any impairment can lead to the death of those in your vehicle or others on the road, whether pedestrians or other drivers.

If you believe a driver is under the influence, don't get into the car. Carry extra cash in your pocket so that you can call a cab and avoid what happened in this situation.

If you are injured because of someone else's carelessness, including drinking and driving beyond the legal limit, you have rights. It is important to contact Atlanta personal injury legal counsel who can help you recover from your injuries and can hold those responsible for your recovery from injuries.

Most likely, the family of the deceased young man will have the right to file an action for the wrongful death of their son. This may well completely alter the young driver's life as he will have to pay for the loss of life and for the injuries of the passengers.

The Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog has posted numerous examples of the terrible consequences of combining excessive alcohol use with driving. Over this past weekend in Cobb County, this dangerous activity is likely to have caused another tragic loss of life.

According to Cobb County authorities, alcohol apparently played a role in the death of a 28-year old man who lost his life while driving his motorcycle in Powder Springs. He failed to properly negotiate a curve and hit a mailbox at a residence on Moon Road, finally coming to a stop in a neighboring yard.

Although in this motorcycle accident the driver did not harm anyone but himself which is itself a terrible and heartbreaking tragedy, we know that the risk of getting on the road while under the influence not only raises the potential for a DUI, it also raises the potential for serious injury or death to other drivers.

So why do people still get on the road when they should not? This may be because of the impaired judgment that goes along with alcohol abuse and the fact that over time, our brains can deteriorate with substance and alcohol abuse and impair our judgment to even a greater extent than an occasional lapse in good thinking. Over the next several weeks, the Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog will be posting on brain health and how you can protect your brain, the most important organ in the human body. Having good brain health is important for recovery from injuries that can happen in one's life, such as a simple concussion from a motor vehicle accident.

In our Georgia community, the tragedy of car and motorcycle accidents involving drugs or alcohol is all too common. We also know that Georgia's laws, and often its juries, treat the perpetrators of death or injury in these cases with much more harsh consequences when substance abuse is involved in an accident.

Another cautionary tale, illustrating the now-classic adage that "friends don't let friends drive drunk," happened last week in a Gwinnett County DUI wreck. Soon Kwon, a Duluth man with a history of minor arrests by Gwinnett County police, was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, three counts of serious injury by vehicle, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Tragically, and somewhat ironically, one of the two who died in the wreck was a friend who had posted Kwon's bail for disorderly conduct last year.

The report of last week's Lawrenceville DUI car accidentsuggests that more disorderly behavior could have led to the crash--or, more accurately, two crashes. The first collision occurred when Kwon sideswiped the car that was driving next to him. The second happened when the sideswipe propelled Kwon's car across the road into oncoming traffic, where he collided head-on with a third car.

Law enforcement isn't sure whether alcohol or drugs were factors in a one-vehicle collision that killed a Buford man this past week. One thing investigators are sure of, however, is that the driver wasn't wearing his seat belt.

The driver, Joe Archer, was going eastbound on Hog Mountain Road near Pine Road in Hoschton when he lost control of his truck. It crossed the road, struck the curb, rolled over and ejected Archer, who died at the scene.

My heart goes out to Archer's family. It's devastating to lose a loved one, and it probably doesn't help that the factors leading to his death were at least partly under his control. Every time you get into a car, you make a decision whether or not to buckle up, and every time you get behind the wheel, you must determine whether you are able to responsibly control your vehicle. Whether passively or actively, Archer made those decisions, and his death may have been the result.

On the 15th, a Gwinnett County judge passed sentence on two drivers jointly responsible for a Lawrenceville DUI car wreck that killed three passengers early one morning in January 2008. The drivers, Sia Johnson and Darcy Hicks, both of Lawrenceville, had left the same party and were both driving intoxicated when the pileup occurred.

The first one to crash was Hicks, who passed Johnson's car, lost control and hit an oncoming minivan (whose driver was fortunately unharmed), then tried to leave the scene of the accident. Directly after this, Johnson crashed her car, killing all three of her passengers.

According to Assistant District Attorney Jon Setzer, Hicks was acquitted of vehicular homicide charges but convicted for DUI, reckless driving and failure to stop at the scene of the accident. He was sentenced to six months in prison. Johnson, meanwhile, having pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide earlier this month, was sentenced to 12 years for the deaths of her passengers.

Three years after causing a
Gwinnett County car accident in which one Georgia woman was left brain dead, a Duluth man has finally been formally indicted for the crime. According to the indictment, in the 2007 crash, Scott Michael Rynning was driving under the influence of alcohol and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. Both are sedatives, and in combination they can create extremely unsafe conditions for driving.

The indictment carried six charges: felony serious injury by vehicle, failure to maintain lane, two counts of driving under influence of alcohol, one count of driving under influence of a controlled substance, and one count of driving under influence of alcohol and drugs together.

Perhaps the worst part is that, according to Gwinnett County jail records, Rynning was also arrested for a similar crime in 2008--after this accident occurred. This suggests he is a repeat offender for driving under the influence in Georgia. They say that old habits die hard, but it's a particular shame when those habits destroy the lives and livelihood of others. Being a repeat offender certainly won't help Rynning's case in this indictment, being one more piece of evidence pointing to his reckless driving behavior. Let's hope he at least learns his lesson this time and stops driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol for good.

Today marked the trial date for Carmon Cody Rhoden, 22, who was charged with killing four in a Gwinnett County drunk driving car accident in March 2008.

The wreck, called the deadliest accident on Northeast Georgia's I-85 in more than 15 years, happened just after Rhoden attended an Atlanta Braves game, where police say he was seen drinking several beers. Witnesses estimated his car was swerving down I-85 at more than 110 miles per hour. At that speed, he clipped an SUV limo, causing a multi-car pileup. But instead of pulling over and accounting for his actions, Rhoden continued on to the next highway exit, parked his wrecked car and called his father to take him home.

Meanwhile the limo, which had been taking a family home from the airport, took the brunt of the force. Four of its seven occupants, including its driver, were killed: Alex Randle, 14; Whitney Randle, 21; Whitney's infant son Kayden; and limo driver Mark Anthony Gay, 44; all of Lawrenceville.

On Monday night, Phil Youngclaus from the Gwinnett Gladiators was hospitalized due to an accident in which he lost control of his truck. The truck had overturned, rolled across the highway several times, ejected Youngclaus, and hit a mailbox and fence.

The hockey player also was cited for driving under the influence (DUI), possession of an open container in a vehicle, failure to maintain lane and not wearing his seatbelt. The arrest reportedly occurred after Youngclaus refused to comply with a blood alcohol test. According to Georgia's Implied Consent Law, law enforcement officers are allowed to ask for breath, blood or urine samples to determine whether a driver is intoxicated. Refusal to submit to such tests can lead to fines, arrests, or suspensions of driving privileges.

It's really a shame when a sports figure, ostensibly a local hero and a role model for youth, decides to drive drunk. And make no mistake. Getting behind the wheel while intoxicated is always a decision--one with definite, often deadly consequences. In this case, Youngclaus sustained head injuries and apparently broke his back in several places. Back injuries from a DUI car accident can result in catastrophic spinal injury, paraplegia, quadriplegia or even death. So really, he got off easy.

It's incredible sometimes what people decide to do while driving. Today, a 52-year-old Dacula man went on a veritable rampage down I-85, for 21 miles from the Hamilton Mill Road exit through Duluth and beyond--almost the entire length of Gwinnett County, according to police. In all, Strawn reportedly hit seven vehicles, amassing 30 felony charges and counting. These include aggravated assault, hit and run, and fleeing law enforcement.

Despite the fact that this man, Mike Strawn, sat in his aptly named Dodge Ram and slammed other vehicles with impunity--three of them as he was pursued by police!--no serious injuries had been reported at press time, although one motorist did say they were in pain. This, of course, is subject to change: when one is injured in an adrenaline-inducing event such as a car crash, it can take hours or even days for symptoms to fully reveal themselves.

It was not reported whether the vehicle-ramming was entirely rear-end collisions or if some cars were side-swiped, but as a Gwinnett County car collision attorney I can tell you that likely injuries from such an event include neck and back injuries like whiplash, head injuries such as concussion, spine injuries, and even brain injuries. All of this risk, and just from one case of road rage.

This week I read about two tragic DUI -related accidents in the Atlanta area. One critically injured a teenager, another seriously injured a baby. Both caused considerable monetary damage and heartache to families, and both could have been prevented simply by abstaining from drinking before driving.

In the case of the baby injury, the driver's intentions were good. Vehicle crashes are called "accidents" for a reason. Rarely are they borne from evil intentions; instead, they tend to be the work of a simple, honest miscalculation, which all too often is due to slowed thinking and reaction time--which in turn is all too often due to alcohol. In this case, the driver was swerving to avoid a dog. Unfortunately she was unable to account for the vehicle she ended up flipping over, which happened to have a baby inside.

It's heartbreaking stories like this one that truly strengthen my resolve as a Georgia auto accident attorney. Easter should be a time for families to celebrate rebirth--but this year, for one Gwinnett County family, it was a time of unspeakable grief.

On Friday night, a family van was on its way from Lawrenceville to Jacksonville to celebrate a close relative's release from prison. Riding in the van were 57-year-old Brenda Mitchell Edwards, her 39-year-old daughter Melissa L. Mitchell, and her four grandchildren: 16-year-old Dhanja Mitchell, 11-year-old Miya Mitchell, and twin 4-year-olds Christian and Keyshawn Perry. Suddenly, a speeding car swiped the van, which careened into the median and was then struck by a pickup truck. All of the van's occupants were killed.

As a Greater Atlanta car crash attorney, I am pleased to report that there were mercifully few St. Patrick's Day DUI arrests and injuries this year in Gwinnett County. However, there were a number of automobile accidents last week that no one could have predicted.

The most ironic of these took place in Cobb County on I-20. U.S. Marine Gregory Suedmeyer and his wife Katelyn were on their way home to Huntsville, Alabama from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The Marine had been stationed there after recently returning from active duty in Iraq. But what should have been a celebratory ride home turned tragic when the Suedmeyers' car was struck by a truck being driven the wrong way down the highway by Georgia resident Bruce Joseph Quayle, 71. The Marine was killed in the crash, and his wife sustained critical injuries. Their family dog, riding in the back of the car, was also killed.