Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What exactly is a wrongful death claim?”
In a truly tragic case out of North Carolina, officials say a large rock that came rolling out of the back of a dump truck is responsible for an unsuspecting driver’s death. Officials with the North Carolina Highway Patrol say that a rock flew through the window of a car on U.S. Highway 221 while it the driver was winding his way through the North Carolina mountains.
Police say that the rock was the size of a basketball and weighed nearly 25 pounds. The rock fell off the back of the truck and landed on the driver, killing him almost immediately. According to a statement from the Highway Patrol, the large rock fell off the back of a northbound dump truck, hit the road once time and bounced upward, ultimately striking the windshield of a Mercedes heading southbound.
Authorities say the rock was one of many loaded into the dump truck that was hauling the rocks to a construction site in nearby Avery County. Police say that the driver of the truck had no idea there was a problem until another driver flagged him down more than a mile from where the deadly accident occurred.
Police say that the accident is an especially tragic reminder of how important it is for commercial vehicles to have their equipment inspected regularly and be up to legal standards. Authorities say that when officers inspected the truck involved in the crash it was clear that there were a lot of equipment violations. An official with the Highway Patrol went so far as to say the dump truck was a faulty vehicle that clearly should not have been allowed on the road.