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A Virginia Beach man facing charges in a fatal truck accident on May 19 has a long record of criminal and traffic violations. He may have been driving a company vehicle at the time of the accident that killed a local teenager.

Jerod Demetrius Johnson of Norfolk, 31, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, maiming, hit and run, DUI and driving on a suspended license in relation to the crash.

The fatal Virginia Beach car accident occurred on Indian River Road, killing a Great Bridge High School senior. Another high school student was transported from the deadly truck accident scene to the hospital with critical injuries.

A review of court records in Chesapeake, Virginia showed that Johnson has several past and pending criminal and traffic charges.  Before he was arrested on May 20, the man already was facing charges for driving on a suspended license and an expired registration.

Virginia Beach police stated that further charges are going to be filed against Johnson related to the fatal truck accident.

Our View

All of our Virginia personal injury attorneys wish to extend our condolences to the family of the teenager who died in this tragic truck accident. Our car and truck accident attorneys also hope that the other teen who was injured makes a rapid recovery.

Our experience as personal injury lawyers in Virginia Beach makes us aware of how many preventable car and truck accidents there are in this state. In 2015, there were 753 car accident fatalities in Virginia; this was a 7.5% increase from 2014. Also, 65,029 people were hurt in Virginia car accidents – a 2.6 increase from 2014.

Alcohol consumption also often plays a major role in the number of fatalities on Virginia roads. Alcohol-related deaths as a percentage of total crash deaths did drop in 2014 to 36%, from 43% in 2013, but these are still far too numerous.

This news report states that the truck driver has been charged with DUI and other serious charges. Our drunk driving attorneys have many years of experience in holding irresponsible, convicted DUI drivers accountable for their actions.

Our belief is that people who are convicted of DUI and kill another person should have to pay both in terms of jail time and dollars out of their pocket. The family of the deceased has been utterly devastated by the loss; in the above case, a teenager’s life was suddenly ended due to alleged recklessness by a habitual offender.

We hope that the family of the deceased files a wrongful death lawsuit against the alleged drunk driver to make him pay dearly in financial terms for what he has allegedly done.

Depending upon available insurance coverage, a wrongful death lawsuit could provide substantial compensation to the family of the deceased victim. We think that is definitely deserved in this tragic case, especially because the driver may have been driving a work truck at the time of the DUI crash.

 

 

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