Commonwealth Dodge Test Drive Crash Update: Driver was going 101 MPH
As we've been discussing on Kentucky Injury Lawyer Blog, there was a tragic car wreck on Fern Valley Road in Louisville, Kentucky, which killed two innocent people, involving a Dodge Challenger on a test drive from Louisville car dealer, Commonwealth Dodge. Early reports suggested that investigators believed the Challenger was being driven greatly in excess of the speed limit at the time of the wreck.
The driver of the car that killed 40 year-old Toya Buckner-Dium and her stepfather, Sherman King Sr. had claimed that he was only going between 55 and 60 miles per hour when the accident occurred, according to police. There was a car salesman in the car at the time, and he was interviewed separately. He was a little more forthright, claiming that they were going around 70 miles per hour.
The problem for the driver of the car, Bryan Lee, and the auto dealership is that new cars are now equipped with crash data recorders, or "Black Boxes," which document things like speed when a collision occurs. The data results have now been retrieved, and according to Louisville Metro Police, the crash data recorder shows the Challenger was going 101 miles per hour just before impact.
According to Shawn Cantley, a Louisville attorney who has handled hundreds of auto accident and wrongful death cases, "a car dealership has a responsibility to not allow its cars to be test driven in a reckless manner on busy city streets."
WHAS-11 news in Louisville is reporting that after seeing WHAS11 coverage of the crash, a man they identified as “Gary” (he did not wish to have his real name reported on camera) called the WHAS11 newsroom. Gary says when he test drove a similar car from Commonwealth Dodge earlier this year; a salesman encouraged him to see how fast the car could go. Though Gary wished to stay anonymous on camera, he says he will testify to his claims in court. The report can be seen here, WHAS: Commonwealth Dodge Test Drive.
"You may sell more cars and make more money by letting people open it up, but if somebody gets hurt or killed as a result, you need to step up to the plate and accept responsibility," said Shawn Cantley. "If they don't accept responsibility, I'm pretty confident that a jury will do so for them."
People wanting more information on the rights of families pursuing wrongful death cases can visit www.kentuckyinjurylaw.com or contact Shawn Cantley directly at (502) 587-2002 or by email by clicking here: email_shawn.
