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Houston girl dies after driving drunk, are others responsible?

On Behalf of | Oct 5, 2012 | Car Accidents |

When people make the irresponsible decision to drink and drive, we are quick to condemn that person as responsible for his or her own actions. But should someone else be held responsible for failing to prevent that person from getting behind the wheel before tragedy strikes? That is what one Houston mother is asking after her daughter was killed in a car accident.

The 19-year-old girl was killed recently early one morning after drinking all night. According to the details of the accident, the girl was driving east on Bellaire Boulevard when she spun out of control and hit three parked cars and flipped her car. She later died at a local hospital.

  – Article By Richard Weaver

According to the girl’s mother she drank at two different bars that night, and those bars are being investigated by the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission for possibly serving a minor. The girl had dropped off a friend, and the girl’s mother wants to know why the friend allowed the girl to keep driving.

But what has the mother most confused is that the girl had stopped her car at some point before the crash, and a Houston police officer was called to the scene. The girl’s mother said that the officer should have arrested the girl or at least confiscated the car and driven her home.

Apparently that officer is now being subjected to an investigation by the Houston Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division?

Do any of these other parties, which apparently all knew the girl was intoxicated, share in the blame for her tragic death? Or does the responsibility ultimately lie with the person who made the choice to drink and drive, even though her age might indicate she was not fully aware of what the possible outcome could be?

Source: Houston Chronicle, “Mom wants answers from HPD after daughter dies in crash,” Robert Stanton, Oct. 2, 2012

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