Getting into a car wreck is one thing. Crashing your vehicle into a house in a drunken driving accident ups the ante considerably.
Even though the accident resulted in considerable property damage and serious injury to the passenger in his car, the 26-year-old Wilmington man only got probation for the wreck that occurred a little over a year ago on March 22, 2014.
Immediately following the accident, police arrested him on charges of reckless driving and DWI. The man pleaded guilty to a charge of felony serious injury by vehicle. The judge handed down a sentence of 36 months supervised probation and suspended 13-25 of those months.
When the accident occurred, he lost control of his car on a sharp left turn of Masonboro Loop Road, which caused him to veer to the right side toward Pine Grove Road. He then crashed into a stop sign and into a ditch. This caused the car to go airborne before landing over six yards away.
The vehicle went into an 88-foot slide across the grass, hitting still another ditch, once again going airborne before hitting first a privacy fence and then a private home on Yarmouth Way.
In cases such as the above where it may appear that the offender received only a slap on the wrist from the criminal justice system, those injured by a driver’s negligence can seek further justice by turning to the North Carolina civil court system and filing a petition for damages. Injured parties can pursue compensation for lost wages from time away from work while recovering, all medical expenses related to the accident, pain and suffering and other potential damages.
Source: WWAY, “Driver gets probation after alcohol-related crash into house,” March. 24, 2015
