Florida Woman Facing DUI Manslaughter Charges After Motorcycle Crash

A 58-year-old motorcyclist is dead after an accident with a Florida woman. According to police, the woman was attempting to make a left-hand turn onto an on-ramp when she failed to notice that there was a motorcycle headed directly at her. When she attempted to make the turn, the motorcycle crashed into the passenger side of her vehicle. The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital where he later died of his injuries.

The woman is facing charges related to DUI manslaughter. It is unclear what evidence the police have against her.

Understanding the charges 

The above described is one of the most common accidents you’ll see. However, such accidents are easily avoided simply by checking the road ahead before making a turn. It’s actually quite easy. Since the car is headed in the opposite direction, the driver can easily see it coming toward them. When left-hand turn accidents happen like this it’s because either the vehicle headed in the opposite direction is not paying attention to the road ahead or the same can be said of the vehicle making the left-hand turn. One would expect, however, that vehicles coming directly toward you are among the easiest to see.

So, when the cops arrive at the scene, they find a woman in a vehicle with heavy damage on the passenger side of her car, a motorcyclist who has been ejected from the bike landing several feet away from the collision. Highway patrol sees this all the time. The motorcyclist obviously expected that the woman would wait until he passed, but she cut him off and he broadsided her vehicle.

The police would have likely found some evidence of intoxication at the scene. The woman could have been slurring her speech, smelled of alcohol, or any of a number of dead giveaways. She was likely brought to the hospital where she was treated for any injuries she had while simultaneously having her blood tested. If the tox screen comes back positive for alcohol, she will be charged with the man’s death.

Defending the charges 

Other than the accident, we don’t have any evidence that the driver of the vehicle was actually drunk at the time of the accident. While you can spend 15 years in jail if you cause a fatal accident while drunk, the police still have to prove that you were intoxicated at the time of the accident. While this can be simple when it comes to alcohol, which only stays in the body for a couple of hours, the process is much more difficult for other illicit drugs which have much longer half-lives. The police would still need to prove that she was inebriated, and they have yet to establish that.

Contact Us Today for Help 

If you’re facing charges related to DUI in Orlando, the Florida DUI defense attorneys at the FL DUI Group can help defend you from the charges and negotiate a reduced plea, a dismissal, or acquittal. Call today to learn more.

Resource:

clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/08/14/woman-faces-dui-manslaughter-charge-in-orange-county-crash-involving-motorcycle-fhp-says/