Passenger in Back Seat of Vehicle Killed When Struck from Behind by Drunk Driver in Jacksonville, Florida
This wrongful death case involved a 19 year old who was employed by the U. S. Navy as an enlisted man. He had been out for the evening with two of his friends, who were also Naval enlistees. These three young men were on their way back to the Naval base and the victim in this case was in the rear passenger seat. There is no evidence of any contributory alcohol on the part of the three men in the automobile.
While traveling back to the Naval base, they traveled in the inside lane nearest the median of a four lane divided highway at about 45 miles per hour. Coming up behind them and traveling about 70 miles per hour was an individual who was intoxicated and driving a pick up truck. The driver of the pick up truck rear-ended the motor vehicle of the three young men in the rear right-hand portion of the vehicle with the left front portion of his truck. At the time of impact, it appears that the motor vehicle containing the three men spun several times until it ended up facing the same direction it was traveling. The driver in the pick up truck kept on going, fled the scene, and was later apprehended for DUI. He is currently serving a jail term for manslaughter.
When the impact occurred, the driver of the automobile looked back immediately to see what had hit him. He never did see the pick up truck. Instead, he saw a pillar of flames shooting out from the right rear of the car which is where the gas filler line is located. Once the vehicle stopped, the driver ran around to the front passenger side of the car as he was concerned about the right front passenger. When he got to the passenger side of the car, he could not get the passenger side door open and the passenger was crawling out of the driver’s side of the car.
After helping the front passenger out of the car and to the median, the driver returned to the car to attempt to rescue the passenger in the back seat. However, the passenger in the back seat appeared to be passed out, although the driver states that he had his seat belt on. The driver then grabbed the passenger’s arm and attempted to rescue him but he was unable to free him. The driver noticed that this victim was still alive when he was trying to rescue him because he saw him take numerous breaths. There are also some witness reports at the scene giving evidence that screaming was heard.
As the fire began to engulf the car, the upholstery of the top interior of the car began to drip on the driver’s arm; therefore, he had to retreat from the car and witness his own friend burn to death in his car. The Medical Examiner of Duval County, after doing an autopsy, concluded that the passenger in the back seat died of conflagration (fire) sustained as a passenger. The deposition of the Fire Marshall revealed that the source of the fire was fuel. He did not determine what in fact caused the fire, although he did determine that there were no other possible fuel sources of the fire other than the gasoline from the fuel tank.
