Off-Duty Police Officer Charged with Drunk Driving Car Accident
An early morning crash on Saturday left investigators looking at one of their own officers when they responded to a wrong-way collision on De Tonty Street in St. Louis, Mo. 27 year-old Officer Michael Schinner was charged with drunk driving and causing a DUI crash which involved another police officer. Officer Darryl Monroe was returning from a call in his Chevy truck when a head-on impact ensued. Monroe was transported to the hospital and received treatment to his lower extremities. 28 year-old Brian Cole was riding as a passenger in Schinner's Dodge and sustained serious trauma, including a brain injury. The future prognosis of Mr. Cole is unknown at this time, as traumatic brain injury (TBI) can take months of treatment to fully understand the degree damage caused by the blunt force impact of an automobile collision.
Anytime a collision involves drunk driving, lawyers typically look to a 12-hour history of where the driver had consumed intoxicating liquors. This may involve subpoena of receipts from restaurants and taverns, as well as recorded interviews of anyone in the company of the drunk driver for that time frame. It is important, from a civil investigative standpoint, to determine whether or not a third-party entity, such as a bar, could possibly bear some type of legal accountability for the cause of the crash, especially when the injuries caused are severe. Commonly referred to as "Missouri dram shop law", this is a particularly complex legal doctrine which assigns joint fault on the owner of a restaurant or bar that "knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron." The burden of proof in dram shop cases is very high for the injury victim. The key to success is an experienced St. Louis dram shop attorney and a vigorous independent investigation.
Dram shop claims are complex for several reasons. Since the defendant is usually charged with crimes such as DUI and assault, he/she is wrapped up in an ongoing criminal investigation. Throughout the course of pending criminal charges, a drunk driver can exercise a 5th amendment right to avoid self incrimination. This means taking his/her deposition in a civil case is tricky because many of the relevant dram shop questions are met with silence. A St. Louis dram shop car accident lawyer will need to figure out how to secure the critical evidence necessary in the beginning to protect the rights of the people injured in the crash, even if this means holding off on deposing the defendant driver in a civil claim for personal injury.
The legal blood alcohol (BAC) limit for a driver in Missouri is .08. So can an attorney prove a dram shop claim based on BAC alone? Yes and no. A jury may determine that a drunk driver's BAC was so high that any waiter or bartender should have known that the patron they were serving alcohol to was "visibly intoxicated" and "should have been cut off." The best dram shop liability lawyers in St. Louis will hire top notch toxicologists to use as experts in a civil dram shop case against the drunk driver who caused the collision and bar(s) that over-served that driver. After all, shouldn't bartenders and waitstaff exercise good judgment when serving intoxicating beverages to a customer?
If you have been injured in a drunk driving crash in the St. Louis area, contact an experienced car crash lawyer who has successfully handled dram shop liability cases. These case types are complex and require a specialized knowledge of pharmacology and history of dram shop caselaw in Missouri. To learn more about Missouri dram shop liability and the evidence necessary to win a case like this, speak to a partner at Schultz Legal Group by calling (314) 448-0934 or toll-free (866) 840-3636. Victims can also send a secure email to the firm's founding partners with legal questions.
Anytime a collision involves drunk driving, lawyers typically look to a 12-hour history of where the driver had consumed intoxicating liquors. This may involve subpoena of receipts from restaurants and taverns, as well as recorded interviews of anyone in the company of the drunk driver for that time frame. It is important, from a civil investigative standpoint, to determine whether or not a third-party entity, such as a bar, could possibly bear some type of legal accountability for the cause of the crash, especially when the injuries caused are severe. Commonly referred to as "Missouri dram shop law", this is a particularly complex legal doctrine which assigns joint fault on the owner of a restaurant or bar that "knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron." The burden of proof in dram shop cases is very high for the injury victim. The key to success is an experienced St. Louis dram shop attorney and a vigorous independent investigation.
Dram shop claims are complex for several reasons. Since the defendant is usually charged with crimes such as DUI and assault, he/she is wrapped up in an ongoing criminal investigation. Throughout the course of pending criminal charges, a drunk driver can exercise a 5th amendment right to avoid self incrimination. This means taking his/her deposition in a civil case is tricky because many of the relevant dram shop questions are met with silence. A St. Louis dram shop car accident lawyer will need to figure out how to secure the critical evidence necessary in the beginning to protect the rights of the people injured in the crash, even if this means holding off on deposing the defendant driver in a civil claim for personal injury.
The legal blood alcohol (BAC) limit for a driver in Missouri is .08. So can an attorney prove a dram shop claim based on BAC alone? Yes and no. A jury may determine that a drunk driver's BAC was so high that any waiter or bartender should have known that the patron they were serving alcohol to was "visibly intoxicated" and "should have been cut off." The best dram shop liability lawyers in St. Louis will hire top notch toxicologists to use as experts in a civil dram shop case against the drunk driver who caused the collision and bar(s) that over-served that driver. After all, shouldn't bartenders and waitstaff exercise good judgment when serving intoxicating beverages to a customer?
If you have been injured in a drunk driving crash in the St. Louis area, contact an experienced car crash lawyer who has successfully handled dram shop liability cases. These case types are complex and require a specialized knowledge of pharmacology and history of dram shop caselaw in Missouri. To learn more about Missouri dram shop liability and the evidence necessary to win a case like this, speak to a partner at Schultz Legal Group by calling (314) 448-0934 or toll-free (866) 840-3636. Victims can also send a secure email to the firm's founding partners with legal questions.
