Norfolk, VA Motorcycle Attorney Injury Report – Maryland motorcyclist accused of DUI and Death of Passenger

A motorcyclist from Maryland is facing an indictment on numerous charges, namely driving under the influence causing death, leaving the scene of an accident involving death and four misdemeanor traffic offenses in connection with the death of a passenger in a crash.

The penalty paid by the passenger on his motorcycle, 43-year-old Lorena Roberts, was even higher – her life.

The possible indictment follows a crash on April 14, 2011 in Berkeley County, West Virginia (WV).

At a hearing on Jan. 19, 2012, West Virginia State Police Sr. Trooper J.D. Schuessler, described an accident in which a motorcycle ran off U.S. 11, and hit a utility pole before striking a parked Ford F-150 pickup truck in the parking lot of a bar.

Roberts was thrown from the motorcycle into the air. She was later pronounced dead at the scene. The motorcyclist is accused of fleeing the scene. He was later found to have a blood alcohol concentration of .137 percent, according to police.

See this video about the death of a motorcyclist in Norfolk.

As experienced Virginia motorcycle accident injury attorneys our thoughts are with the victim who appears to have lost her life due to the actions of a DUI driver.

If her family files a car insurance injury claim against the driver they may be entitled to damages, if the driver was under the influence of alcohol. The issue when the person harmed is a passenger with a drunk driver is whether she knew that the driver was so intoxicated that she should have chosen not to ride with the person. In such cases, the insurer will try to blame the victim and say she assumed the risk of injury if she knowingly rode with a drunk driver.

Sadly far too much misery has been caused in recent months by drivers who were later charged with DUIs. In Virginia Beach a woman is accused of mowing down a family in their own driveway while in Newport News, VA police say a wrong way driver who was under the influence of alcohol, killed two Christopher Newport University students in 2011.