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No one knows for sure what happened in this deadly confrontation. One man was killed by police.

The story began in July, when a man was reported standing beside a major roadway, swearing and yelling at passing cars. Someone called the police, and a deputy was sent to the scene. The man was not armed, and reports do not indicate whether or not he was under the influence of something at the time to make him act out.

What is clear is that a struggle ensued and the first responding deputy fired a fatal shot into the man’s abdomen. The female deputy stated she was afraid for her life, despite the fact that the man had apparently broken no laws, was not under arrest, was not armed and did not appear to be a threat to anyone, including himself. She called for backup, and that is when things went horribly wrong.

Beware of trucks in construction zones. Any road work crew poses a major hazard.

We’re so used to seeing road work being done all over America, we tend to just shrug our shoulders and grumble about yet another delay in getting from point A to point B. Construction is considered to be royal nuisance, best avoided wherever possible. Very few people think of construction zones as being dangerous, after all, drivers are to slow down when passing workers.

Many drivers do not slow down. Many more ignore the lower speed limits for a construction zone and push on through to get to the other side as fast as they can. Everything is at the side of the road, and the workers are in ditches, and the equipment is on the shoulder – no worries. Think again. Construction zones are a threat to workers on site and truckers.

The family of the victim in this case filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the dead man.

Not all wrongful death cases are the result of negligence on the part of the named defendant. This case may well be one of those. Evidently, the man who died was out night-clubbing with his friends at a well-known downtown entertainment venue. It was popular with folks, as it was on a boat; a yacht, in fact. The club was named after the owner in an artful play on words involving his last name, which was Knight.

Apparently, the man had been at the club for some time, socializing with friends, when he decided it was time to leave. As he was attempting to disembark to the dock, he plunged into the water instead. Despite that fact that his friends jumped in after him, and pulled him out, he was unconscious, and subsequently died.

A young man on his way home was hit and killed by a truck.

It’s hard to imagine that someone could be just two blocks from home, and die in a hit-and-run accident. A 26-year-old man, whose day had started out like any other, was on his way home, and had only had two blocks to go, when he was hit in a crosswalk, clipped by a large, white box truck. He saw it, but is appears questionable if the trucker saw him.

The young man was left bleeding in the street while neighbors called 911 for help. EMS crews arrived quickly, and were able to transport him to hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries. Friends and those who saw the accident reported that they could not understand how the trucker could just hit the young man and leave the scene, when it was clear the victim was seriously injured. Many were heard to say that they thought the trucker belonged in jail for his actions.

Accidents on the job often severely injure or kill. In this case, an oil well worker died at the age of 21.

It was a normal day of getting up and going to work for the oil company, and a 21-year-old worker was looking forward to day’s end when he could pursue what he loved best, working with horses. However, something went wrong that day, and he did not make it home. His mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf.

Apparently a co-worker found the man on a catwalk on an oil storage tank, unresponsive. The tank cover was open. Certain wells in the oil field where the man worked were known for producing high levels of hydrogen sulfide and other noxious, toxic gases. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the company the man worked for was negligent about its inspections and maintenance of their oil wells, equipment and the tank where the young man was found dead.

If you’re ever involved in a critical injury accident in Georgia, hope that it happens close to a Level 1 Trauma Center. It may save your life.

It’s a fact of life that people get into car, truck and motorcycle accidents all over the state of Georgia. The lucky victims are close to a Level 1 Trauma Center, and if they make it there in enough time, one of those centers will save their life. Georgia is fortunate enough to boast five of these centers, put to good use by accident victims with severe trauma injuries.

Level 1 trauma care handles all kinds of severe injury accident trauma, whether it is the result of an accident or another mishap such as head trauma from a fall, electrocution and so forth. Hospitals covet this title, as it is the highest trauma center rating they may attain. Basically, the facility needs to prove it staffs the ER and trauma operating room 24/7/365 with a full team of medical personnel who have a wide variety of specialties.

It’s hardly the stuff tourist attractions are made of; Georgia ranks among the top five states for fatal truck accidents.

Despite the fact that the trucking industry is striving to make the roads a safer place for other motorists, Georgia has always managed to maintain the dubious distinction of ranking among the top five states across the U.S. for trucking fatalities. The unfortunate part is that, even though there are rules and regulations, they do not seem to be enough. The rules and regulations must be followed. Often they are honored more in the breach than in the execution, and the ones who pay for that are the innocent victims who end up severely injured or dead.

Rather than decreasing in Georgia, fatalities have consistently increased every year since 2002, according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). With this disturbing trend of fatal big rig accidents on the rise, it is no surprise that they affect a large number of lives, and not just in Georgia but in every state.

Wrongful death lawsuits are not just about compensation. At times, social justice is served as well.

Wrongful death cases are about loss, grief, fear and anxiety for the future, but they are also about social justice. In many cases, the family of the deceased is hoping to change something for the better of others. They do not want what happened to their loved one, to happen to anyone else. It is a strong motivation for change when someone who caused the death of another is sued for their negligence.

In this case, a 32-year-old man was killed when a 17-year-old drunk driver slammed into his car in the middle of an intersection. It turned out the 17-year-old had obtained his liquor from a local food mart. The teen’s blood alcohol content was in the stratosphere, at .136. The man’s family sued for wrongful death, a suit that was dealt with after the driver had served his five year prison sentence for pleading guilty to negligent homicide.

There are some things you just do not do. Trying to hide an accident that injured another person is one of them.

This accident just about takes the cake in terms of the biker’s irresponsibility. A biker, whipping about town on his ride, a blue Suzuki, was doing so while carrying a suspended license and a 13-year-old passenger. He lost control and ran into a fence and a bunch of garbage cans, just a short distance from the young boy’s house. Rather than go for medical help or call police, the biker told the boy to walk home.

After sending the boy on his way, when he was obviously injured and in pain, the man then attempted to remove the bike from the scene of the accident by towing it away with an ATV and hiding it in his garage. His attempts to hide the bike didn’t matter, as someone called the police. The police located the boy and found out he had suffered a lacerated spleen. The biker was a habitual offender known for driving under the influence and was on parole. The 13-year-old ended up in a trauma center, admitted for observation and possible surgery.

Sleep apnea is a dangerous condition. Long haul truckers with this medical issue are time bombs.

New sleep apnea regulations are slated to be put in place, sometime this year, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Sleep apnea causes truckers to have accidents, and the long and short of it is this condition may be deadly, as the outcome of a truck hitting a smaller vehicle is a foregone, horrific conclusion.

Sleep apnea, also referred to as obstructive sleep apnea happens when a person’s breathing temporarily stops. This affects the exchange of oxygen in the lungs, due to the fact that throat muscles have relaxed so much, they block your airway while sleeping. The logical conclusion of a night of sleeping, starting awake, sleeping and starting awake is that the next morning the individual is extremely tired. For truckers suffering from sleep apnea, the extreme fatigue heightens their risk of falling asleep at the wheel, losing control of their rig and getting involved in an accident.