A fatal car wreck is not necessarily a crime, but it becomes a DUI investigation when the driver is under the influence. This post covers what felony DUI with death is, what happens to a driver involved in a crash where someone dies, and what happens when a driver leaves the scene after striking someone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is felony DUI with death?
Felony DUI with Death is where you’re accused of driving a car while under the influence and as a result of your driving some accident occurs where someone is killed.
The elements are that you’re driving under the influence, that you violated some law/traffic law like passing unlawfully or crossing the center line, and that as a result of that action, somebody either inside of your car or outside of your car was killed.
What will happen if I caused a car wreck and killed someone?
What happens to someone if they were in a car crash or automobile accident and they were driving, and they killed someone? That triggers a lot of different things. Unfortunately, vehicle fatalities are not that rare, and a vehicle fatality, a car wreck where someone dies, is not a crime, necessarily.
If the individual is driving under the influence of either prescription drugs, alcohol, or street drugs, or illegal drugs such as marijuana, then it becomes a DUI investigation. You have the same rights and responsibilities in that investigation as you would for a normal DUI.
You can refuse to take tests, you can agree to take tests, you can agree to do field sobriety tests or not. Many times, for people in that situation, it’s very difficult for them to do walk-and-turn type tests because they’ve gone through trauma themselves.
It’s obviously a very traumatic situation. At the same time, if the person has had nothing to drink, has nothing in their system, then it’s just an automobile accident, which could be your fault, but it’s still not a crime.
So many people are on some type of prescription, and police officers, they’re not pharmacists, they’re not doctors, they don’t know what it does, so the presumption always is that the person is under the influence until they can somehow show otherwise.
What will happen to me if I ran over someone and left the scene in my car?
What happens if someone leaves the scene of an accident? In other words, if somebody ran over a pedestrian or hit a pedestrian. This happens, unfortunately. People are riding on mopeds, people are riding bicycles, sometimes pedestrians are in the street at night.
If you strike someone with your car, and that person was in the roadway, you haven’t broken any law, unless you leave the scene. If you leave the scene, then you’re looking at the same type of penalties as you would be looking at as if you were driving under the influence and did the same thing. There have been cases, here, in this jurisdiction, where someone left the scene of an accident and the accident wasn’t their fault.
So, it’s a little complicated, but where that person was charged with leaving the scene or being under the influence or suspected of it; but to be charged and convicted of felony DUI, you have to cause the accident.
So, if a person is intoxicated and runs over someone who is at fault (in other words, the person is in the road) then that person could not be convicted of felony DUI. They can, however, be convicted of leaving the scene. So, it’s very important not to leave the scene.
If you’re in a situation where you’ve already left the scene, you need legal advice and you need it fast.
Charges connected to a fatal accident or leaving the scene call for a defense attorney who knows how these cases are built. Greg McCollum has approximately 30 years of experience and is a former prosecutor, which is why he is the right choice for a charge like this in South Carolina.
If you have questions about felony DUI with death, fatal car wrecks, or leaving the scene of an accident, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.